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THE LIFE

OF

REV. RICHARD GWEI5

CORNELL

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

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THE LIFE

OF

RICHARD OWEN

VOL. I.

Juj-fi/ird UAueynP.

THE LIFE

OF

RICHARD OWEN

BY HIS GRANDSON

THE REV. RICHARD OWEN, M.A.

WITH THE SCIENTIFIC PORTIONS REVISED
BY C. DAVIES SHEREORN

ALSO AN ESSAY ON OWEN'S POSITION IN ANATOMICAL SCIENCE

BY THE

RIGHT HON. T. H. HUXLEY, F.R.S.

PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

'iW 'TWO •vdEUidfsi^'yp-i':!. /■- ."• ;-" :'

NEW YORK

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

1894

» • • • •-

V. I

DEDICATED

BY GRACIOUS PERMISSION
TO

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

PREFACE

Sir Richard Owen's careful habit of preserving
every paper or letter that came to his hands has
rendered the task of preparing his ' Life * more
difficult perhaps than it would otherwise have
been. Of his own letters, written chiefly to his
wife and sisters, no less than 1,200 remain; while
of the voluminous correspondence he received
during his long life more than 15,000 letters had
been preserved.

Besides all these, both he and his wife were
in the habit of keeping diaries. His own journal
is of a more or less disconnected character ; while
that of his wife, which includes the years 1834 to
1873, is a full record not only of the important
facts but also of the trivial details of their joint
lives. It will, therefore, be readily understood

[8] PROFESSOR OWEN

that my chief difficulty has been to compress the
biography within reasonable limits.

His general character stands out clearly, I
venture to think, from the material which has
been utilised ; and, although from our relative ages
it is impossible that I could have a personal
knowledge of his private life until his later years,
I can but repeat the unfailing testimony of his
friends in regard to his charm of manner, his
genial courtesy, and his kindness of heart. All
this and a great deal more I have seen for myself

I gladly take this opportunity of expressing
my sincere gratitude to the Right Hon. T. H.
Huxley for the kind and generous contribution
he has made to this book, showing Professor
Owen's position in the* history of anatomical
science.

I have to thank Mr. C. Davies Sherborn for
carefully examining Sir Richard's correspon-
dence, for editing or revising the various scientific
portions of the work, and for lending me much
assistance throughout.

PREFACE [9]

I wish also to express my best thanks to Mr.
John Murray for many suggestions and revisions,
and for the interest he has taken in the work.

It only remains for me ta acknowledge my
indebtedness to Lady White Cooper, Sir William
Flower, Professor Jeffrey Bell, Dr. Pearson Lang-
shaw, and others, for valuable information which
has done much to enhance the interest of the bio-
graphy, and to Dr. Henry Woodward and the
Rev. H. N. Hutchinson for the illustrations of
some extinct animals, the reconstruction of which
occupied so large a part of Professor Owen's life.

RICHARD OWEN.

Sheen Lodge, Richmond Park :
October 1894.

CONTENTS

OF

THE FIRST VOLUME

CHAPTER I
1804-24

Parentage— Childhood— Youth

PAGE
I

CHAPTER n

1824-33

Edinburgh University — Prosector to Abernethy in Lon-
don — M.R.C.S. and Assistant Curator of the Hunterian
Collection at the College of Surgeons, 1826 — Lecturer on
Comparative Anatomy at St. Bartholomevi^'s, 1828 — Cata-
logue of the Hunterian Museum, 1830-34 — Introduction
to Cuvier — Visit to Paris, 1831 — ' Memoir on the Pearly
Nautilus,' 1832 26

CHAPTER HI

1833-36

Eton in 1833 — Professor of Comparative Anatomy at St.
Bartholomew's, 1834— F.R.S., 1834 — Marriage to Caroline
Clift, 1835- Early Married Life 69

[12] PROFESSOR OWEN

CHAPTER IV
1837-38

PAGE

Hunterian Professor and Professor of Anatomy and Phy-
siology in the College of Surgeons, 1837 — His Courses of
Lectures — Birth of his Son, October 6, 1837 — The British
Association at Newcastle, 1838 — Visit to Germany, 1838 —
Death of his Mother, November 1838 . . . .105

CHAPTER V
1839-40

Foundation of the Microscopical Society — Reconstruction
of the 'Dinornis' — Corresponding Member of the Insti-
tute of France, 1839 — First Part of the Report on British
Fossil Reptiles read before the British Association at
Birmingham, 1839 — Part I. of the 'Odontography' com-
pleted, 1840 143

CHAPTER VI
1841-42

Hunterian Lectures — Progress with 'Odontography' — British
Association at Plymouth, 1841 — Report on British Fossil
Mammalia, 1842-43 — Public Dinner in his Honour at
Lancaster, 1842 — Offer of a Civil List Pension, 1842 . 179

CHAPTER VII

1843-44

Further Evidence of the Existence of the ' Dinornis' — Second
Series of Hunterian Lectures commenced — Member of
the Commission of Inquiry into the Health of Towns,
1843-46 — The British Association at York, 1843 — Member
of the Literary Club, 1844 — Lecture on the 'Dinornis' at
the Royal Institution, 1844 207

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME [13]

CHAPTER Vni
1845

PAGE

Owen's Opinion of the 'Vestiges of Creation' — His Descrip-
tive Catalogue of Fossil Mammalia — Election to ' The
Club'— Refusal of the Offer of Knighthood— Visit to
Turner, the Painter — Meeting of the Italian Naturalists
at Naples 248

CHAPTER IX

1846-47

Owen's Proposal of a National Collection of Fossil and
Recent Comparative Anatomy — The British Association
at Southampton, 1846, and at Oxford, 1847 — Literary
Work— The Rajah of Sarawak at ' The Club,' 1847—
Member of the Commission of Sewers — Foundation of the
Palseontological Society, 1848 272

CHAPTER X
1 848-49

' The Archetype and Homologies of the Vertebrate Skeleton,'
1848 — The Cuming Shell Collection — The Great Sea
Serpent — Emerson and Guizot — Literary Work and Lec-
tures—Death of Mr. and Mrs. Clift, 1849— Prince
Charles Lucien Bonaparte— Member of the Commission
on Smithfield Market 309

CHAPTER XI

1850-51

The Megatherium — Preparations for the Great Exhibition of
1 85 1— The Smithfield Commission— Additions to the
Zoological Gardens — Juror of Awards at the Exhibition-
Visit to Parisat the Invitation of the President of the

[14] PROFESSOR OWEN

French Republic — Article on Lyell's Works in the ' Quar-
terly Review,' October 1851— The Copley Gold Medal —
' Chevalier de I'Ordre Royal pour le M^rite ' — Sheen
Lodge, 1851 351

CHAPTER XII

1852-54

Delight in Country Life — Hunterian Lectures, 1852 — Land-
seer, Mulready, Fanny Kemble, Alfred Tennyson,
Charles Dickens — Love of Fishing — Dinner in the
Iguanodon, 1853 — Literary and Scientific Work, 1854 . 382

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

IN VOL. I .

Portrait from an Oil Painting by H. W. Pickers-
gill Frontispiece

Megatherium americanum, Cuvier . . Tofacep. 190

Portrait from a Daguerreotype taken about

THE Year 1846 >, 319

The House in Thurnham Street, Lancaster, where

Owen was Born page 6

The Gateway, Lancaster Castle 13

Femur of a Moa 145

DiNORNIS (PACHYORNIS) ELEPHANTOPUS, OWEN . . 150

Sheen Lodge, Richmond Park 383

PROFESSOR .OWEN

CHAPTER I

1804-24

Parentage — Childhood — Youth

Richard Owen, younger son of Richard Owen,
formerly of Fulmer Place, Bucks, was born at
Lancaster on July 20, 1804. His grandfather,
William Owen, married Elizabeth, daughter of
Richard Eskrigge. This Richard Eskrigge was
High Sheriff of Bucks in 1741, and was the owner
of Fulmer Place. In an old Family Prayer Book,
dated 17 13, with a frontispiece portrait of Queen
Anne, and further ' adorn'd,' as the title-page has
it, ' with 50 historical cuts,' there are the following
entries in Richard Eskrigge's handwriting : —

' Richard Owen, son of William Owen (who
was free of the Fishmongers' Company) and of
Elizabeth Owen. The said Richard was born in
the parish of St. Matthew, Friday Street, De-
cember 5, 1754, and baptized the Sunday follow-
ing. The sponsors were Richard and Elizabeth

VOL. I. B

2 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. I.

Eskrigge and Mr. Beresford (Cashier in the
Bank of England).

' Elizabeth Owen died December 5, 1754.

' Elizabeth, wife of Richard Eskrigge, died
July 16, 1756. They were both buried in Wan-
stead parish, in Essex, in the vault of Elizabeth
Froysell, my wife's mother. Ann Froysell and Ann
Eskrigge, her niece, are buried in the same place.'

Then in Sir Richard Owen's handwriting a
few explanatory remarks are added. ' The above
entries,' he writes, ' are in the handwriting of my
great-grandfather, Richard Eskrigge, of Fulmer
Place, Fulmer, Bucks, and relate to the birth of
his grandson and heir, my father, Richard Owen.
My father's mother died soon after his birth, and
he was brought up by his grandfather Eskrigge,
and his education was directed by the executors
or trustees after Richard Eskrigge's demise.'

The following table makes the relationship
clearer : —

Robert Eskrigge of Eskrigge

Richard Eskrigge = Elizabeth Froysell
(of Fulmer Place),
High Sheriff of
Bucks, 1 741

Elizabeth Eskrigge = William Owen
(died the year after
her marriage)

Richard Owen = Catherine Longworth

inherited
Fulmer Place

{nde Parrin)
Sir Richard Owen, K.C.B.

l8o4-24 THE PROFESSOR'S MOTHER 3

There is also an entry in the handwriting
of Sir Richard Owen's father. ' Richard and
Catherine Owen were married at Preston, No-
vember 8, 1792, by the Rev. H. Shuttleworth.'

The Professor's mother was of French extrac-
tion. She was of a Huguenpt family of the
name of Parrin, who came over from Provence
at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Besides being a woman of great refinement and
intelligence she was an accompHshed musician,
for her father had supported himself by the pro-
fession of music, and she inherited his talent. In
appearance she was a handsome, Spanish-looking
woman, with dark eyes and hair. Owen himself
was never tired of speaking of his mother's charm
of manner, and of all that he owed to her early
training and example. His father was a complete
contrast. Tall, stout, and ruddy, his general
appearance bore a strong resemblance to the face
and figure popularly supposed to belong to the
typical John Bull. Nor was his character unlike —
bluff, burly, obstinate, and perhaps not particularly
brilliant, he was yet possessed of sound common-
sense.

Honest and sincere himself, Richard Owen
the elder expected all with whom he had deal-
ings to be the same, and never quite recovered
from the effects of a certain business transaction
which took place between Napoleon I. and him-
self. He had already made a considerable fortune

4 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. I.

as a West India merchant, and at the beginning
of the present century contracted for the supplies
of the French troops at St. Dominique, but
Napoleon I. afterwards repudiated all English
debts. Talleyrand, however, represented to him
that Mr. Owen's contract had been most faith-
fully carried out, and that he was deserving of
some return at least. Napoleon thereupon gave
orders that the estates which he had confiscated
from the Bishop of Deux-Ponts should be offered
to Mr. Owen as payment.

Before giving an answer Mr. Owen consulted
his wife. She was strongly of opinion that, as
the title to the estates was so insecure, the best
thing to be done was to accept them, and then
sell them for anything they would fetch. The
place was accordingly sold, and without much
difficulty, for the position was a beautiful one and
the land productive. It so happens that the title
to these lands has never been disputed, and the
descendants of the original purchaser occupy
them to this day.

A letter from St. Bartholomew, dated July
30, 1807, to ' Kitty,' from her husband, contains
the following statement :-^

' Yesterday I received a letter from Mr. Wars-
wick, dated June 3, advising me that they had
received i ,684/. 9^-. 2d. for the lands in France taken
for the French bills. This is a heavy loss, but I
am glad on your account that there is that sum in

1804-24 RICHARD OWEN GOES TO SCHOOL 5

the bank, as you may now call there for what
you want with more confidence.'

The loss which this transaction entailed on
Richard Owen evidently preyed upon his mind.
Two years afterwards he died.

In 1808, a year before hi§ death, he wrote
again to his wife from St. Kitt's. In this letter
he refers to his losses, but, what is more impor-
tant, he adds : ' I am glad to know James ^ and
Richard come on so well with their studies and
are so attentive.' In October 1809 Richard
Owen died at the age of fifty-four, according to
an entry in a little old note-book, tied up with a
faded pink ribbon, and headed ' Kitty Parrin's
M emorandum-book. '

The next entry in this little note-book is that
of the death of Mrs. Owen's eldest son : —

'April 22, 1827. — My eldest boy, James
Hawkins Owen, died at Demerara of yellow
fever, and was buried there.'

Long before that date Mrs. Owen was living
with her six children in a house in Thurn-
ham Street, at' the corner of Dalton Square,
Lancaster, and this old house is still in existence.
After some preparatory instruction from an old
Quaker lady, Richard Owen, at the mature age of
six, was sent to the Lancaster Grammar School
to join his elder brother, James, by the advice
of his godfather, the Rev. Joseph Rowley,

1 Professor Owen's elder brother.

PROFESSOR OWEN

CH. I.

who was curate of the parish as well as head-
master of the school. There is nothing to be
seen of the old school now, except perhaps the
dated stone which used to be over the porchway.

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THE HOUSE IN THURNHAM STREET, LANCASTER,
WHERE OWEN WAS BORN

The New Grammar School was built in a dif-
ferent part of the town. Whewell, the famous
Master of Trinity, who was Owen's fellow-towns-
man, also received his education there, and
another schoolfellow, who was in the same class

1804-24 PARSON ROWLEY 7

as Owen's elder brother, was Higgin, late Bishop
of Derry.

Richard Owen always spoke affectionately
of Mr. Rowley, or Parson Rowley as he was
called, and was also on good terms with two of
the other masters of the school, the Revs. E.
Morland and J. Beetham. How he got on with
his other tutors is not so certain. One of them
stigmatised him as ' lazy and impudent,' and
prophesied that he would come to a bad end.
This gentleman gave instruction in caligraphy,
but in spite of his dismal predictions he managed
to teach Owen to write a remarkably clear and
neat hand, which hardly varied till within a few
years of his death.

Between twelve and two o'clock the boys left
school for dinner. It so happened that the
gardens belonging to Mrs. Owen and to Mr.
Rowley adjoined each other, and on one occasion
the carpenter, Whewell's father, was engaged in
repairing the division fence. Mr. Rowley was
walking in his garden before school began
again, and there met young Whewell, who was
assisting his father in his work. In the course
of conversation Mr. Rowley, who had evidently
been putting a few professional questions to the
boy, was struck with the real intelligence of his
answers, and the evident knowledge of mathe-
matics which he displayed. He told Whewell's
father that he thought his son ought to be sent

8 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. i.

to the Grammar School. The elder Whewell,
who was a man of much good sense, objected
to the expense of such a proceeding, and the
loss of his son's assistance. But Mr. Rowley,
being of an exceedingly practical as well as
generous nature, offered to bear the expense of
books and fees himself. Young Whewell there-
fore joined the school. Considerably Owen's
senior, he had been at the school some little time
when the latter entered.

At that time Owen did not apparently ex-
hibit any marked fondness for study. He would
speak feelingly of a day which recurred at regular
intervals, known as ' Black Monday,' when
the misdemeanours of the week, which were
allowed to accumulate until they reached a hideous
climax, were expiated by the infliction of the
extreme penalty of the law. It was remarked
that the pains and penalties had somehow or other
increased since Whewell's advent to the school,
and it was acutely surmised that his precocious
relish for mathematics and study in general had
considerably raised the standard of work. This
was felt to be too much. • Whewell was a big
strong fellow, but Owen, deeming that there was
safety in numbers and a big brother, was loud in
his taunting expressions of disgust. Whewell
thought it high time to administer a reproof to
one so much his junior both in school standing
and age, and upon the big brother, James Owen,

1804-24 'WEDDING MONEY' 9

thinking fit to interfere, Whewell proceeded to
administer to him a couple of black eyes. A
remark of Owen's mother is preserved, to the
effect that she thought it most ungrateful of ' that
boy Whewell' .to have 'blacked her eldest son's
eyes so shockingly.' But the yqunger Owen and
Whewell became the best of friends, and their
friendly intercourse existed without a break until
Whewell's death in 1866.

Richard Owen remained at the school long
enough to be one of the first six boys. Among
the privileges at that time attached to those
favoured seniors was a curious institution known
as the ' wedding money.' Whenever a wedding
took place at the Parish Church, these six boys,
if they were in attendance, could claim a fee. It
seems that in pre- Reformation times the six seniors
were called upon to fill some minor office in the
Church — that probably of acolytes — during the
wedding ceremony, and, although the duties had
lapsed, the fees continued. This fee apparently
varied — sometimes it would only be a shilling or
half a crown between them, but it occasionally
rose in the case of county families to the sub-
stantial sum of a couple of guineas. On one
occasion a farmer Was about to be married, but,
as he was anxious to have something for his
money, he refused to part with a single penny
until one of the young ' gents ' would ' gie him a
homily.' The boys were somewhat dumbfounded.

10 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. i.

and were beginning to think they had better let
the question of fees pass and go off empty handed,
when Owen, displaying a considerable share of
ready assurance, stepped forward and coolly
began from the Latin Grammar, ' Propria quae
maribus tribuuntur mascula dicas,' &c. That
was quite enough. The farmer handed over
his fee with great satisfaction, and Owen achieved
a cheap reputation amongst those who were
present as the classical scholar of the school.

' At this period of his life,' so his last surviv-
ing sister would relate, ' Richard was very small
and slight and exceedingly mischievous, and he
hardly grew at all till he was sixteen.' His
family were evidently apprehensive — like Mrs.
Wilfer's mamma — that it would end by his being
a 'small man.' But he soon began to make up
for his early want of stature, and when he left
the Grammar School he was already a big
awkward lad.

At the age of fourteen Richard Owen had
given no signs of a taste for the work to which
his life was afterwards devoted. Part of a manu-
script treatise on Heraldry still exists, which he
wrote about this time, as well as an elaborately
painted coat of arms of the Owen and Eskrigge
family, with ' R.O. del., 1818,' in the corner. He
thus alludes to this work of art : ' My earliest
hobby was Heraldry, and a friend of my mother's,
by name Miss Taylor, who was sister of the then

l8o4-24 APPRENTICED TO LEONARD DICKSON ii

Garter King of Arms, promised me a place in
Heralds' College.' In a footnote he added many-
years after : ' Which luckily I did not get, Garter
dying before I was of age for such office.'

Soon after leaving school he was apprenticed
to ' Leonard Dickson, of Lancaster, Surgeon and
Apothecary,' as his indenture, dated August 1 1 ,
1820, shows. According to the terms of this
document he was to be provided by his mother
with ' meat, drink, washing and lodging, and
also decent and suitable cloathes and wear-
ing apparel,' and his master was on his part to
teach him the ' arts, businesses, professions,
and mysteries of a surgeon apothecary and
man midwife, with every circumstance relating
thereto.'

Mr. Dickson died two years after, and
Richard Owen was ' assigned, transferred, and
turned over ' by the executors to Joseph Seed for
the term of five years, the indenture of this trans-
fer bearing the date of June 19, 1822. The
following year Mr. Seed accepted a post as
Surgeon in the Royal Navy,^ and Owen was
again transferred, by an indenture dated Decem-

^ It is probably from this to sea, sir.? You might just

circumstance that the idea of as well go to the devil.' The

Owen's entering the Navy ori- Professor once assured the

ginated. The story has been writer that this story, though

extensively quoted and elabo- ingenious, had no foundation

rated into an anecdote in which in fact.
Abernethy says to Owen, ' Going

12 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. i.

ber 13, 1823, to James Stockdale Harrison,
' Surgeon and Apothecary.'

There is appended to the indenture to Seed a
certificate in Joseph Seed's handwriting which
reads as follows :

' Mr. Richard Owen became my pupil in conse-
quence of the death of Mr. Dixon [jr?V],the gentle-
man to whom he was an apprentice. From the
circumstance of myself being called upon by the
Service to which I belong, I had him transferred
to my respected friend Mr. J. Harrison, of this
town.

' Mr. Owen's general conduct during the time
he was with me has my highest commendation,
and at all times I shall be happy to bear testimony
to his most deserving merit, as well as to his res-
pectability.

'J. Seed,
' Surgeon Royal Navy.'

Lancaster, January 10, 1827.

During Richard Owen's apprenticeship at
Lancaster, two adventures befell him which he
often related. They are given in his own words ; '
but they necessarily suffer by the change from
spoken to written language. They lose his own
indescribable manner of telling a good story,
especially when relating his own experiences,

' The substance of these to Hood's Magazine, vol. ii.,
two ghost stories was contri- 1844, p. 442, and vol. iii., 1845,
buted by the Professor himself p. 294.

1804-24

THE COUNTY GAOL

13

which only those who may have heard him will
be able to recall in reading the two following
accounts of himself : —

' It happened during the probationary period

THE GATEWAY, LANCASTER CASTLE

of my apprenticeship* — we preferred to call our-
selves " pupils," by the way — to the worthy country
surgeon. He stood high in the estimation of the
good townsfolk, and was, moreover, surgeon to the
County Gaol. .This imposing pile included all

* His first, under Mr. Dickson.

14 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. I.

kinds of architecture, from the square Roman tower
and baronial portculHsed gateway and keep of the
early Plantagenets, to the fortress built in the
time of Elizabeth, and to those more modern
imitations erected according to the exigencies of
a model prison. The old square tower, with walls
of exceeding thickness — Hadrian's Tower it
was called — was divided by four or five storeys
into as many spacious but low-roofed apartments,
which were accessible by a spiral stone staircase
lodged in a corner turret ; the top room of all,
being the highest and most airy, was used as the
hospital for the gaol. Here indeed we exercised
privileges, which the less favoured surgeon's
pupils of the town could only hope to enjoy in
their metropolitan career at the hospitals. The
inquests held over all the unfortunates who by
natural death are liberated from prison gave
us the opportunities of becoming early initiated
in practical anatomy. I eagerly embraced this
opportunity of initiation, to which I looked for-
ward not without feelings of awe, such as might
well mingle with the scientific aspirations of a
youth of sixteen but three weeks emancipated
from the old-fashioned school, where super-
naturalism had always flourished. In my school
days no youthful sceptic had ever ventured
a doubt as to the raising of the devil by the
process of muttering the Lord's Prayer backwards.
The influence of a score of school myths of a

1804-24 POST-MORTEMS 15

ghostly character, and the natural awe which the
human corpse inspires, especially in the youthful
mind, damped considerably, I must confess, my
ardour for the acquisition of a knowledge of
internal structure, when, the sheet having been
withdrawn from the pale, cold, collapsed features
of the deceased, the half-opened eyes seemed to
deprecate what then struck me forcibly as being
a desecration of the sanctity of the dead. It was
in vain that my elder fellow-pupil drew my
attention to the various pathological signs in the
thoracic viscera on which our master learnedly
descanted ; my gaze would still turn to the pale
cold features, and the glassy staring eyeballs. He
had been a young man, imprisoned for a term,
and carried off by a rapid consumption. His was
the first case that I had attended, and I had taken
medicine to him in the hospital. Another prisoner,
somewhat older, had died the day after, and his
body was examined the same day. These /t'5'/-
mortcTn dissections were performed in the middle
room of the old tower, where the prison clothes
were also washed. I must say I quitted the scene
with both appetite and ardour for science some-
what damped.

' A few fever cases had broken out in the gaol,
and I was charged to visit one that had reached a
critical height late in the evening, with medicines
to be administered if certain symptoms were pre-
sent. On this errand I set out about nine o'clock.

i6 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. i

It was late in November, and a storm was rising,
obscuring the light of a full moon, which now and
then burst from between the clouds, I entered
the gloomy arch of the old gateway tower, let fall
the ponderous knocker, and, having been recon-
noitred through a small grating, was admitted.
The old turnkey, being apprised of my business,
offered to accompany the "young doctor" — in
which title I already rejoiced — to the hospital tower.
But as my seniors were accustomed to dispense
with this attendance I thought it infra dig. to re-
quire it ; he might actually think / was afraid of
going to the top of the old tower alone ; so, having
obtained the keys and a lantern, I proceeded to
the tower without him.

' The storm seemed to be increasing in violence,
and the clouds were scurrying along in black masses
as I crossed the spacious courtyard. The door
of the turret I had to ascend was in a distant and
gloomy corner of the yard. I set down the lamp,
to turn with both hands the heavy key in the stiff
and creaking lock. When at length the door
yielded to a push, I was met by such a gust as
if all the winds of heaven were escaping from tem-
porary confinement in that old tower. I stood for
a, moment with my back against the open door.
The strange combination of howls, screams, and
whistlings that smote my ear at the same time
startled me, at first, with the idea that some human
voices in the staircase were mingling with the

1804-24 A GHOST 17

sounds produced by the rushing of the wind. The
lantern had swung open with the effort of my push
and the light was extinguished. As the sounds
died away I recognised that most melancholy and
strangely articulate howling to which I had often
in the daytime listened in the circular turret, which
received, like a colossal organ-pipe, the currents
of air that vibrated as they rushed in through four
or five arrow-slits in its thick walls. The effect
that a storm produced, blowing strongly from the
sea, which was not very far distant, as it beat upon
the walls of the old tower and played through this
gigantic -^olian apparatus, is quite inconceivable.

' When I had somewhat collected my thoughts,
my first idea was to return to the gateway for a
light ; but reflection whispered " No ; they'll think
you were afraid to pass the corpse room in the
dark ; besides, they might say you couldn't miss
your way up the narrow spiral staircase." So, shut-
ting the heavy gate again, and locking it — the
rule of the gaol being to lock every door that you
passed through — I proceeded to mount the long
succession of stone stairs. The loneliness of my
position then struck coldly upon me, especially
when the winds, after a moment's silence, began
again their dismal concert of moans, screams, and
howls, through those arrow-slit apertures by
which air and light were admitted to the stair-
turret. In the murkiest gloom I began my
ascent, and, arriving at the first grating, groped

VOL. I. y , c

i8 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. i.

out the keyhole, unlocked the iron door and
passed through. This door I did not lock after
me, but left wide open. I tried to whistle as I
proceeded ; but it seemed a mockery to attempt
to make any sound heard amid the indescrib-
able crescendos and diminuendos which filled
that dismal access to the abodes of sickness
and death. And as I slowly proceeded my
mind became suddenly and at once occupied —
filled to the exclusion of every other idea — with
the scene I had witnessed for the first time that
morning. It came upon me so suddenly and dis-
tinctly that I involuntarily stopped : the picture
of the whole procedure, with those features that
had most appalled me, rose in hard outline before
my mind's eye, and I tried again to reason and
shake it off. " Men must be dissected," I said to
myself; but I wished I had never witnessed
those pallid collapsed features. I then believed
in ghosts, and three or four of the best authenti-
cated cases vividly recurred to me, and, as these
thoughts passed through my mind, every step I
took was rapidly bringing me nearer the entry
of that cold and dreary chamber, where — but
I wasn't going to think of that any more. 1
had unlocked the second iron grating, which
crossed the staircase, and, having passed the
dreaded chamber, was hastening on, when a
slight gleam of light from above made me
raise my head, and I saw at the next turn

1804-24 A FREEZING HORROR 19

above me a figure, at first indistinct, then in clear
outline, tall and thin, leaning against or clasping
the central stone pillar of the staircase. My first
alarm grew into a creeping and freezing horror,
as, staring intently upwards, I thought I dis-
tinguished the pale collapsed futures, and those
half-opened glassy ■ eyes that had haunted me
through the day, and now looked coldly down
and met my own. I would have called for help,
but I knew that would be in vain ; and I began
a precipitate descent, but had hardly made one
turn down and passed the closed door of the dead-
chamber, when a second figure in white appeared
below me, as if to intercept my passage ; that
figure, too, appeared to lean against or clasp the
central column, and surely it bore the features of
the other corpse ! For an instant I grasped the
pillar for support, and gazed upon the spectre in
speechless terror (I was but young). I had gone
by the very spot but a few moments before, and
no human being could possibly have stood and
been passed unconsciously by me, where now the
apparition, thin, pale, and motionless, glared so
clear and bright. An unusually articulate howl
above, and a clattering like some one in chains
rapidly rushing down the staircase below me,
made me start off in desperation. As I passed
the lower ghost, feeling more dead than alive, I
felt something move — and found I had dragged
a sheet after me! This evidence of materiality

C2

20 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. i.

recalled my scattered senses in some degree. 1
raised the sheet, and returning a few steps saw
the moon that had broken out gleaming brightly
through one of the arrow-slit windows upon the
central stone pillar. Here I found that advantage
had been taken of the current of air admitted
by the arrow-slit to hang up a sheet to dry on
the opposite pillar. I could also see where a
nail, driven into a crevice of the stone-work, had
been apparently used to suspend the sheet. I
hung the sheet up again and soon saw how the
upper round opening of the arrow-slit, pictured in
bright moonlight upon the sheet, had made the
head of the apparition ; some folds of the sheet
and an excited imagination completed the ghastly
physiognomy. Every trace of the supernatural
had vanished. I was excited even to laughter
(my merriment was somewhat hysterical, I must
admit), and I then deliberately reascended to take
a second and cool scrutiny of ghost number one.
It was of course due to the moonlight through
the other window. It really wanted but little
imagination to complete the picture. Every-
thing had concurred to prepare my mind to
receive the supernatural interpretation of it. All
the same, I was not sorry to emerge into the open
air of the courtyard. The old turnkey, when I
presented myself at the inner gate of the entrance
tower, could not help asking, as he scrutinised
my pale face by the light of his lamp, " what

1804-24 THE NEGRO'S HEAD 21

ailed me." I made him an indifferent answer,
returned him the keys and lantern, and passed
out. I remember having mentally vowed all my
way home never, never again to desecrate the
Christian corpse, and to quit a profession that
could only be learnt by such practices.'

How long Richard Owen kept this resolution
we can easily see. It was only a few months after
that the incident occurred known as the ' Negro's
head story,' which the Professor used to tell so
well. As imperfectly recollected accounts of this
story during his lifetime appeared occasionally in
various papers, it may not be out of place to give
it in his own words : —

' My worthy preceptor was called out one
evening to the case of a sailor who was brought
home in an apoplectic fit after receiving a heavy
fall in a drunken fray at a public-house. The
doctor found it a hopeless case, and the man
passed from his stupor into death. After his
death his widow and daughter retired to one of
the little houses which face the steepest part of
the hill leading to the Castle gates. One evening
they were talking about the slave trade, in which
occupation it appeared that the unfortunate hus-
band and father had spent a large part of his active
life. The two women had finished their meal
and were sitting before the fire, by the light of
which they were holding their conversation. The
mother was feebly attempting to make a case in

22 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. i.

defence of the traffic, when, on a sudden, the
attention of both was roused by a sound as of
footsteps rapidly approaching the door, which
was immediately burst open by a heavy blow. A
piercing shriek came from the mother, who
rushed into the adjoining bedroom ; the daughter
started, and turned towards the cause of the noise
and her mother's fright, and saw what she after-
wards described as the phantom of a negro slave
lying on the floor, which turned its ghastly head
and glared for a moment upon her with white
protruding eyeballs. A figure in black entered
as she fled screaming after her mother. When
the two terrified women ventured at length to
glance into the room from which they had been
scared, all was quiet ; the red glow from the
grate showed everything to be as they left it.
What could this be except an apparition of the
captain with his negro slave, and the old gentle-
man himself in black pursuing them ?

'The mystery of that phantom head,' the Pro-
fessor would conclude in tragic tones, ' is known
to me alone. The goodly resolves I had made
some time previously, . after my visit to the tower
staircase, to intrude no more into the portals of
anatomical science, had vanished : the determina-
tion- to cut my chosen profession, once and for
all, had wavered. Rallied by my fellow-pupils,
and excited by some articles in a cyclopaedia to
which - we had access, my anatomical passion soon

1804-24 A DEED OF DARKNESS

23

returned, and all other resolves and scruples were
forgotten.

' My zeal and skill at assisting at post-
mortems had gained me the rarely bestowed
commendation of the doctor our preceptor. I
had already . begun to form a ^small anatomical
collection, and had lately added a human cranium
to my series of the skulls of dogs and cats and
the skeletons of mice and " such small deer." It
happened also that on the day when a negro
patient in the gaol hospital had died, a treatise on
the " Varieties of the Human Race" fell into my
hands, and greatly increased my craniological
longings. The examination of the body was
over and the hurried inquest performed, when,
slipping some silver into the hand of the old
turnkey as we left the room, I told him I should
have to call again that evening to look a little
further into the matter, before the coffin was
finally screwed down. It was but six weeks from
the time of my first adventure in the old tower,
when, provided with a strong brown-paper bag, I
sallied forth on a fine frosty evening in January
to secure my specimen of the Ethiopian race. I
was now an habitud of the place, and an attendant
was . no longer proffered to accompany me.
Taking my lantern and keys, I opened every door
and gate, duly locking them again after I had
passed through. As I ascended the spiral stairs
of Hadrian's Tower, speculations on "facial

24 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. I.

angles," "prognathic jaws," and that "peculiar
whiteness of the ossfeous tissue " upon which my
favourite author had dilated, drove out of my head
all the former broodings on immaterial beings
which had so disturbed my first ascent of the tower.
I particularly remember fastening after me the
heavy door which led into the dark wide stone
chamber of the dead, in order to be secure from
any interruption in my work. The gloom of the
apartment was just made, visible by the light of
the lantern, but it served for the business im-
mediately in hand. The various instruments had
judiciously been left behind ; and when I returned
through the gates — the bag under my cloak — the
intimation that all was now ready for interment
was received with a nod of intelligence by the
old turnkey, which assured me that no inquisition
nor discovery was to be apprehended on that side
of the castle walls.

' As soon as I was outside I began to hurry
down the hill ; but the pavement was coated with
a thin sheet of ice, my foot slipped, and, being
encumbered with my cloak, I lost my balance and
fell forward with a shock which jerked the negro's
head out of the bag, and sent it bounding down
the slippery surface of the steep descent. As
soon as I recovered my legs I raced desperately
after it, but was too late to arrest its progress. I
saw it bounce against the door of a cottage facing
the descent, which flew open and received me at

1804-24 A HURRIED ENTRY AND EXIT 25

the same time, as I was unable to stop my down-
ward career. I heard shrieks, and saw the whisk
of the garment of a female, who had rushed
through an inner door ; the room was empty ; the
ghastly head at my feet. I seized it and retreated,
wrapping it in my cloak. I suppose I must have
closed the door after me, but I never stopped till
I reached the surgery.'

26 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ii.

CHAPTER II

1824-33

Edinburgh University — Prosector to Abernethy in London —
M.R.C.S. and Assistant Curator of the Hunterian Collection
at the College of Surgeons, 1826— Lecturer on Comparative
AnatomyatSt. Bartholomew's, 1828 — Catalogue of the Hunterian
Museum, 1830-34 — Introduction to Cuvier — Visit to Paris, 1831
— ' Memoir on the Pearly Nautilus, 1832.'

The terms of Owen's surgical apprenticeship at
Lancaster were never carried out to the full. In
October 1824 he matriculated at Edinburgh
University. Some of his lecture cards of ad-
mission are still preserved. We gather from
them that he attended Hope's lectures on
Chemistry and Pharmacy, James Home's on the
Practice of Medicine, John Mackintosh's on
Midwifery, Andrew Duncan's on Materia Medica,
besides the lectures given by Robert Jameson and
W. P. Alison. He also attended the anatomical
lectures of Monro (tertius), but as that worthy
gentleman was in the habit of lecturing — so Owen
has remarked — from the notes used by his grand-
father and his father, both of whom had successively
occupied the chair of Anatomy before him, these
lectures were found to be neither of particular

1824-33 'THE HUNTERIAN SOCIETY' 27

interest nor yet sufficiently up to date. So Owen
was constrained to attend the outside course given
by Dr. Barclay on Practical Anatomy and Anatomy
and Surgery. Though this was an extra which he
could ill afford, still he never regretted it, for of all
his teachers at Edinburgh it was.fo John Barclay
that he owed the most. Many times has Owen
spoken of the.influence that John Barclay had on
his early career, and the sincere affection with which
he inspired him. In the early part of Owen's
residence in Edinburgh, he : and Gavin Milroy
founded a students' society, which was called,
at Owen's suggestion, 'The Hunterian Society.'
Little did. he. think how closely connected he
was afterwards to become with John Hunter's
work. This society was apparently in existence
for; some twenty-five or thirty years afterwards,
but is now extinct. The University Professors
allowed the students the use of one of the college
rooms for the meetings of the society..

Amongst Owen's reminiscences of his student
days in Edinburgh was the ceremony connected
with the bringing in of the New Year. On New
Year's Eye, 1824-25, sallying forth from his
lodgings in Nicholson Street, he was met by his
friends opposite the Tron Kirk, where they as-
sembled to see the New Year in, and to discuss
the mysteries of a decoction known as ' Het Pint,'
the groundwork of which is understood to be
ale (boiled), with an admixture of whisky and

28 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ii.

spice. This beverage was carried about in a
bright kettle, and as the Church clock struck
twelve the ' het pint ' was handed round and
drunk amid cheers.

While at Edinburgh, he received many letters
from his mother. The first that is preserved is
dated from Lancaster, March 4, 1825. In it she
says she has had a call from a friend of his
resident in Edinburgh, during a visit he was
making to Lancaster.

' He gave me,' she writes, ' a most gratifying
account of you, and your comfortable lodgings in
Nicholson Street, and appears wishful to show
you every attention in his power. ... I hear
that your thumb has again become inflamed, and
am, my dear Richard, very uneasy about it. I
therefore beg that you will take every precaution
that is possible to guard against further danger,
making a point of washing your hands as often as
possible in the dissecting-room. All unite in best
love, and that you may continue to enjoy health,
and also the regard and approbation of the Profes-
sors, is the constant prayer of, dear Richard,
' Your ever affectionate mother,

' Catherine Owen.

' P.S. — You will let us know when you want
money.'

At the end of April 1825 John Barclay
strongly advised Owen to move to St. Bartho-

1824-33 OWEN'S FIRST JOURNEY TO LONDON 29

lomew's Hospital, and study under Abernethy.
After some consideration, Owen decided to do
so, and obtained his college certificates forthwith,
all of which are in existence. His yearly ticket
(October 1824-October 1825) for the Library also
exists, and a certificate from W. C. McDonald, the
Apothecary to the Royal Infirmary, stating that
' Mr. Richard Owen had a Ticket for this
Hospital, dated November the first, 1824, and
signed the Porter's Book regularly during its
currency.' A certificate from Dr. Mackintosh,
dated April 30, 1825, states that 'Mr. Owen's
conduct has been marked by the greatest zeal and
attention.'

Dr. Barclay speaks of Owen in the following
terms in his certificate : ' I had much reason to
be satisfied with the mode of his attendance, and
the manner in which he prosecuted these branches
of his medical studies' (Anatomy and Surgery).
April 25, 1825.

But Barclay's chief recommendation was a
private letter to his friend Abernethy, which he
gave to Owen to take to London with him.

This first journey to London Owen describes
in the following terms : —

' I shall never forget the day when I arrived
for the first time in London, where I had literally
not one single friend : the only link I had with
my Northern friends being John Barclay's letter
of introduction to Dr. Abernethy, which I carried

30 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. ii.

in my pocket. The sense of desolation which I
experienced in walking up Holborn towards St.
Bartholomew's Hospital, where the letter was to
be presented, was something indescribable, and
the numbers of strange faces which kept passing
by only increased that feeling.'

When he arrived at the hospital Abernethy
had just finished lecturing, and was evidently in
anything but the best of tempers, being surrounded
by a small crowd of students waiting about to ask
him questions. Owen was just screwing up his
courage to attack this formidable personage and
state his business, when Abernethy suddenly
turned upon him and said, ' And what may you
want ? ' After presenting the letter, Abernethy
glanced at it for a moment, stuffed it into his
pocket, and vouchsafed the gracious reply of ' Oh ! '
As this did not seem to point to anything very
definite, Owen, after waiting for further remarks
and enlightenment, was turning away to go when
Abernethy called after him, ' Here ; come to break-
fast to-morrow morning at eight ; ' and, presenting
him with his card, added : ' That's my address.'
What were the terms in which Dr. Barclay had
spoken of him Owen never knew, but he thought
they must have been favourable, for when he pre-
sented himself the next morning at Abernethy's
residence, and was anticipating anything but an
agreeable tite-a-tite with the great doctor, he found
him, to his surprise, considerably smoothed down,

1824-33 ABERNETHY PROVOKED TO ANGER 31

and quite pleasant in his manner. The result of
the meeting was, that Abernethy offered him the
post of prosector for his lectures. The prosector,
amongst other obvious advantages, was not at
the expense of purchasing his own subjects for
dissection — no inconsiderable item of expenditure
then ; and further, the subjects provided for the
lectures were in a much sounder and fresher con-
dition, comparatively speaking, than was usually
the case in those body-snatching days.

From such a chief as Abernethy, Owen could
not fail to profit. As a rule he fared well at the
hands of his Professor ; but on one occasion he
provoked Abernethy to anger. The lecture was
on the human kidney, which Owen had duly
prepared ; but unfortunately, in the process of
preparation the part known as the suprarenal
capsule came off, owing most likely to its not
being quite so fresh as it might have been, and
in a great hurry the prosector carefully fixed it
on again — but to the wrong end of the kidney.
Abernethy's explanations were somewhat far ad-
vanced before he found this out, and not looking
very closely at the specimen he held in his hand,
he was elaborately describing its structure, as if it
had been a normal kidney. When he discovered
the error committed, he did not let the occasion
pass without bestowing a few flowers of speech
upon his young friend.

In the same year Owen was elected a member

32 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ii.

of the Abernethian Society/ and communicated
to that body a few pathological papers.

On August i8, 1826, Owen obtained his
membership of the Royal College of Surgeons.
His diploma is signed by John Abernethy, Astley
Cooper, Anthony Carlisle, T. Forster, Everard
Home, William Blizard, Henry Cline, William
Norris, William Lynn, and Leigh Thomas. He set
up as a medical practitioner at 1 1 Cook's Court,
Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, and gradually
secured a small practice among the lawyers.
Owen's peculiar ability as a dissector had not
escaped the eye of Abernethy, then President of
the College of Surgeons, who, much concerned at
the neglect of the collections formed by John
Hunter, which had recently been purchased by
the Government and handed over to the care of
the College, insisted on his old pupil undertaking
their arrangement. As Abernethy said, ' The
collection was located near his private residence ;
he could devote his leisure hours to the work ;
there was no one else equally qualified to do so.'
Owen undertook the task, and was thus associated

' The name of this society Rowland H. Coombes, in vol. iv.

was formerly the ' Medical and of St Bartholomew's Hospital

Philosophical Society of St. Reports, 8vo, 1868, we read :—

Bartholomew's.' It was founded 'In 1826 Richard Owen read

by Abernethy in 1795, and took two papers : one On Encysted

the name of ' Abernethian So- Calculus of the Urinary Bladder,

ciety ' in 1 832, the year of Aber- and the other A Case of Gluteal

nethy's demise. In a Sketch Aneurism with Ligature of the

of the Abernethian Society, by Internal Iliac'

1824-33 THE COLLEGE OF SURGEONS 33

with William Clift, at that time Conservator
of the College museum. As assistant to the
Conservator, Owen was engaged at a quarterly
payment of 30/. Two years later this salary was
increased to 150/. per annum, but he held the
position only ' during the pleasure of the Board
of Curators.'

When first appointed Owen found at the
museum no adequate catalogue of any depart-
ment, either MS. or printed.

The patience of the trustees and of the public,
which the promises of Sir Everard Home had'
tried for twenty-five years, had become exhausted.
Owen's first difficult task, therefore, was to prepare
a descriptive catalogue of the collections which
had been transferred by Government from John
Hunter's temporary museum in Castle Street
to the College of Surgeons. This collection,
wrote Owen in his diary, ' consisted of un-
dissected specimens in spirits, the majority of
which had been presented by Mr. (afterwards
Sir Joseph) Banks to John Hunter, who had
supplied Banks with large stoppered bottles of
alcohol, for any soft animals captured during the
circumnavigatory voyage of Captain Cook.'

On hearing of his appointment as Assistant
Curator, his mother writes to him on March 12,
1827, from Lancaster, that she is 'thankful to
have a son who has been such a credit to his
family,' and that she ' has no doubt but that he

VOL. I. ^

34 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. ii.

will ultimately be an honour to it as well.' ' All
your friends here,' she continues, ' are much
pleased, and say that you are a lucky young man
to meet with an appointment of the kind while
numbers of the profession hardly know which
way to turn. It is evident to me that your good
conduct, added to your abilities and industry, have
gained you the notice of the Professors. Should
you, my dear boy, be in want of money before
your quarter becomes due, do not hesitate to
3ay so.'

It was in September 1827 that Richard Owen
first met Miss Clift. She was one day hanging
in her mother's room a, pair of bell-pulls which
she had made ; but in getting down from the
step-ladder she overbalanced herself and had a
bad fall, which completely stunned her. Her
brother, William Home Clift, immediately called
in Owen, as the nearest surgeon at hand, to attend
to her injuries. When the young lady came to, the
first person she saw was her father's colleague.
' I had once before seen him and spoken to him,'
she writes in her diary for 1827, ' but I had not
noticed him much, for it was on the' occasion of
his being called in during William's illness, and
we were all rather frightened at the time.' Soon
after there appear in her diary sundry h'ttle notes
to this effect : — ' R. O. gave me a carved tortoise-
shell comb,' and 'R. O. gave me a volume of
Cowper's Poems.'

1824-33 LECTURER AT BART'S

35

Before the end of the year Owen was engaged
to be married to Miss Clift.

William Clift had a sincere affection for his
assistant, and from his letters appeared to have no
objection to his marriage with his only daughter.
Whatever opposition there was to the match
proceeded from Mrs. Clift, who insisted that
Owen should have sufficient means to provide
for her daughter, before she would hear of the
marriage taking place.

In the following year (1828) Owen was
appointed Lecturer on Comparative Anatomy
at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, an appointment
which was the starting point of his career as a
lecturer. This was not a particularly remunerative
post, and he soon found, even joining the stipend
to that which he was receiving as Assistant
Curator of the Hunterian Collections, that if he
were to think of getting married he must look out
for something which would provide him with
sufficient means to do so. In October his mother
writes : —

• I am most anxious, my dear boy, for your
improvement and success in your profession. I
have lately been reading a book entitled " Publick
Characters in the Year 1823," amongst the rest
Peel, Scarlett, Sir H, Halford, &c. Many of the
characters are men who by perseverance and
steadiness in their profession have made their
mark in the world, and one observation particularly

36 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. ii.

I will quote from the " Lives." " One thing
indeed can never be too strongly recommended
to young men aspiring to rise in their profession,
whether such profession be the law or physick :
let them, if within their means and power, become
the pupils of some person already em,inent and in
high reptile ; by such a preparatory course they
obtain two great objects — a well-grounded pro-
fessional knowledge, and the opportunity of be-
coming known to all the friends and connections
of their instructor." Now, my dear Richard, I
do flatter myself that you will ultimately become
great in your profession, and, should it please the
Almighty to spare me till then, I trust in His good
Providence for the rest.'

Towards the end of 1829 or the beginning of
1830, Owen heard that the post of House Surgeon
to the Birmingham Hospital was vacant. On
January 7, 1830, he left London at a few hours'
notice, thinking that if he obtained this appointment
it would further the ends he had in view. There
is no doubt that his affection for Miss Clift had a
great deal to do with this attempt which he made
at improving his position ; for he saw but little
prospect of advancement if he stayed on at the
College as assistant to the Curator, because Mr.
Clift's only son, William Home Clift, had been
promised the curatorship on his father's death.

As will be seen from the two following letters,
Mr. Clift even while acknowledging the loss which

1824-33 DEPARTURE FOR BIRMINGHAM 37

Owen's success would be to him, greatly interested
himself in furthering his application for the Bir-
mingham appointment.

The first is a letter addressed to Joseph
Hodgson, who was one of the officials connected
with the Birmingham Hospital. -

Lincoln's Inn Fields ; January 7, 1830.

' My dear Sir, — The suddenness of Mr.
Owen's departure for Birmingham prevents me
from writing you a long epistle on the occasion ;
and therefore, without further preface, I beg leave
to recommend him strongly to your good offices ;
which, when you know him so well as I do, I
firmly believe you will not think ill bestowed.
You will find him exceedingly well informed in all
that relates to his profession, an excellent anato-
mist, and sober and sedate very far beyond any
young man I ever knew. If you succeed in de-
priving me of his assistance you will do me a
great disservice ; but if it is for his good I should
be very sorry that you should think me so selfish
as to wish him to remain here when he might, in
such situation as that to which he aspires, be so
much more advantageously employed, both to his
own advantage and that of your hospital institution,
as being more suited to his talents and his inclina-
tions than anything we have here to offer him as
an inducement to stay. I can only add, if he suc-
ceeds as he deserves, he cannot fail to do well ; he

38 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ii.

will, moreover, I may venture to affirm, set all poor
students a good example for close application
and attention to their professional and moral
duties.

' With best wishes for your health, I remain,
' My dear Sir, yours very sincerely,

' Wm. Clift.'

Joseph Hodgson, Esq.

Four days later Clift addressed a letter to John
Abernethy, on the same subject, from which the
following is an extract : —

January ii, 1830.

' I have this morning received the enclosed
letter from Mr. Owen, who is now in Birming-
ham.

' If he succeeds, as he deserves to do, I fear
I shall lose the advantage of his assistance just
now when it was most needed, and when he was
becoming most useful from the knowledge he
had acquired of the business of the museum ; but
of course no one can blame him for endeavouring
to better his condition if it is in his power, and
I only hope that the situation, if he succeeds in
getting it, will be to his advantage, for I really
believe him to deserve all the good that may
befall him ; and from his steadiness and sedate-
ness, combined with his extensive knowledge for
so young a man, I think the Hospital must be
much benefited if they retain him there . . . . He

1824-33 MISS CLIFT

39

passed very creditably at Apothecaries' Hall at
only one day's preparation or , rather reconsidera-
tion, which was no bad proof of what was in him,
as he could hardly have been said to have attended

to that subject for the last three years '

The first letter of Owen's which is preserved
is one written about this time to his future wife,
with reference to this appointment. All his letters
to her are characterised by sound common-sense,
and are affectionate in tone without being senti-
mental. There is emphatically ' no nonsense
about them.'

Richard Owen to Miss Clift

January 9, 1830.

' Dear Caroline, — At present the chances are
that I shall return to you for good and all.

' The greatest advantage that can accrue from
my present undertaking is a lucrative practice in
the town of Birmingham, and that {hdlas !) only
after some time. I therefore hope rather to
return to you, even in the event of my election,
should any circumstances ever render my services
of worth to the College, and I shall return with
the satisfaction of having studied my profession
practically under a surgeon like Mr. Hodgson, and
perhaps be able to compete with some of the
Londoners.

• Whatever be my lot, it is now more interest-
ing to me than ever, for such must be yours.

40 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ii.

' Farewell ! God bless you, my love, and kiss
youi' mother for me.

' Your Richard Owen.'

To Miss Clift,

Writing to William Clift from Birmingham
on January 9, 1830, he says : ' The sentiment ex-
pressed by all the medical officers I have spoken
to is that they are afraid the situation is too
poor an object, or hardly worth my acceptance,
and that they should consider themselves for-
tunate to have me elected to it — a sentiment both
flattering and discouraging. My heart yearns
towards the " happy Fields." . . ,' After stating
that he has enclosed notes for Sir Astley Cooper
and John Abernethy asking for their testimonials,
he adds : ' I am ashamed of this disjointed scrawl
and of causing so much trouble about my stupid
self, who ought to have staid at home and
minded my bottles.'

It soon becomes evident that Owen found the
post unequal to his expectations, and that he
abandoned all desire to obtain it.

On January 12, 1830, he again wrote to
William Clift from Temple Row, Birmingham
(Mr. Middlemore's) :—

' Mr. Hodgson explained to me many par-
ticulars respecting the situation, which they have
cut down a good deal ; he entered very fairly into
every advantage connected with it, and what it

1824-33 BIRMINGHAM ABANDONED 41

might tend to. It would be at least ten years
(and perhaps rather improbable in so short a
time) ere I could calculate on sitting down and
paying my own expenses as a surgeon and
apothecary in Birmingham ; and a year or two
longer before prudence would pe/mit marriage —
should everything go on well ! ! So that, my
dear Sir, I request you to suspend any exertions
or trouble you may have in hand at present on my
account. It is indeed solely for such trouble as
yourself, and in a minor degree one or two in this
town, have been put to, that I have reason to
feel regret ; for my own little share I have
nothing to fret about ; it has given me a little
more insight into and mixture with the world ;
more established me in my future views, and
made me better value the opportunity of labour-
ing with yourself

' I trust, under these circumstances, you will
exonerate me from the charge of fickleness. The
first prospect being so good, I spared no pains to
give myself a chance, or at least to know the
chances ; and if they are too strong against me, it
surely is best to withdraw timely, and not sacrifice
too much time or money. I wish I knew the feel-
ings of the College on the step I have taken, but
I cannot imagine it to be calculated to give much
offence. However, my mind is made up to try
any chance rather than sit down with the dreary
prospect of ten long years' fag and saving of

42 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ll,

scraps, away from those I love most and the
society I take such delight in.'

In a letter to Miss Clift, Owen writes two days
later (January 14, 1830) : —

' You know not how rapidly I have succeeded
in gaining golden opinions from all sorts of men
in this place. You have lent me your attractions
and have prompted me in all my interviews. To
give you an idea : the whole medical staff met
and decided that, though they had pledged them-
selves to give no opinion on the merits of the
candidates till February, yet they were so unani-
mous in my favour that they would commence
an active canvass for me, and justify themselves
on the plea of the good of the institution ; they
changed the name, too, from House Apothecary
to Resident Medical and Surgical Officer. And
one of the old physicians said I should have come
in as it were by acclamation — nay, the expressions
of goodwill have been so flattering to me, that it
has made it almost painful to announce to them
my determination to resign.

' But the die is cast ; you shall be with me ever,
and guide, and prompt, and see my exertions.'

In a few days Owen was back again at work on
the Hunterian Catalogue, devoting the intervals
of time which were not spent in the museum of
the College of Surgeons to the development of
his medical and surgical practice at 1 1 Cook's
Court, Lincoln's Inn Fields. This practice was

1824-33 ZOOTOMICAL RESEARCHES 43

chiefly, though not entirely, amongst young
lawyers, and in some cases his relationship with
them was such as to lay the foundation of not
a few lasting friendships.^ He also diligendy
visited the poorer classes of the neighbourhood.

Owen at this time began to apply himself
industriously to the dissection of such animals as
died under the care of the Zoological Society of
London, and this he continued to do for many
years after, thereby gaining valuable materials for
most of his contributions to the ' Proceedings ' of
that Society. He became a Life-Member in 1830,
was soon elected on the Council, and took an active
share with their then Secretary, Mr. Vigors, the
Vice-Secretary, Mr. Ed. Bennett, Wm. Yarrell,
and Thos. Bell, in the establishment of the even-
ing meetings for the purely scientific aims and
works of the Society, and the prompt publication
of the facts communicated on those occasions.

These originally appeared as the ' Proceedings
of the Committee of Science,' in 1830; and they
took the title of ' Proceedings of the Zoological
Society of London,' in 1833. A large proportion
of Owen's zootomical researches is to be found
in these volumes. His first zoological paper
(1830-31) was ' On the Anatomy of the Ourang-
outang,' while in the same year he contributed
his first surgical paper to the ' Trans. Med.-Chir.
Soc, 1830,' 'An Account of the Parts concerned

* Notably with Chief Baron Pollock.

44

PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ll.

in the Aneurism for the Cure of which Dr.
Stevens tied the Internal IHac Artery at Santa
Cruz in the Year 1812."

In 1830 three parts of the 'Catalogue of the
Hunterian Collection in the Museum of the
Royal College of Surgeons in London,' 4to, were
published. No author's name appears on any of
the six parts, but Owen was entirely responsible
for part iv. (i), and there is no doubt that he
assisted Clift in the preparation of the other parts
of this preliminary list.

Owen sent his old friend and preceptor,
Dr. Seed, a copy of this work as soon as it was
ready, and received the following reply : —

Lancaster : November 12, 1830.

' My dear Owen, — Accept my thanks for the
book. I received it with peculiar pleasure, and
contemplate it as the dawning of a talent which,

' ' Dr. Stevens,' writes Owen, land by the operator in 1829.

' had transmitted an account of Dr. Stevens,' Owen continues,

this operation, the first, he be- ' at the suggestion of Mr. Law-

lieved, which had been per- rence, deposited the preparation

formed on that artery, in 1 812, in the museum of the Royal

from the island of Santa Cruz, College of Surgeons, and, the

announcing its success. Doubts dissection being intrusted to me,

were entertained and had been he requested me to communicate

publicly expressed, as to the the particulars to the Society,

possibility of reaching so deep- The result of this dissection

seated an artery. The patient, was to demonstrate the fact of

restored to health, died in 1822. the application of the ligature

The part of the body concerned on the internal iliac artery, and

in the operation was preserved its effect on the obliteration of

in spirits and brought to Eng- the aneurism.'

1824-33 CATALOGUE OF HUNTER'S COLLECTION 45

I prophesy, will do you honour. The vineyard
in which your industry is occupied will bear fruit
worthy the labourer, independent of the incalcu-
lable advantage which will accrue to your interest
and improvement. Your wonted industry and
application will ensure your good fortune and
prosperity. In my humble opinion, you have es-
timable merit and must shine in the profession,
provided your good sense keep it, under all
circumstances of fortune, under proper govern-
ment. . . ,

' Believe me your faithful and sincere friend.
In haste

' J. Seed.'

Of the five Descriptive Catalogues of Hun-
ter's Collection, vol. i. was ready in 1833, and
the year following vol. ii. appeared. After
finishing vol. i., Owen set to work to prepare
another and separate catalogue — ' Preparations
presented by Sir William Blizard to the Royal
College of Surgeons, London.' This 4to volume
came out in 1832, appearing between vol. i. and
vol. ii. of the Hunterian Catalogue. The task
of describing the Hunterian Collections was a
Herculean labour. Most of Hunter's MS. had
been lost or destroyed, and the collection, as it
stood, was practically useless. Three thousand
nine hundred and seventy specimens had to be
examined and described, and for this purpose

46 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. ii.

- Owen was obliged, in a large number of cases, to
obtain and examine fresh materials. In this way
the volumes of the Catalogue appeared, year after
year — ' a work of scarcely inferior importance to
the museum itself* No more fitting field can
be imagined for the development of Owen's
genius.

In the early part of September Owen took
a rest from his work by staying a short time
at Lancaster with his mother and sisters. He
never lost an opportunity of paying a visit to
his native town. Writing to Mrs. Clift from
Lancaster, September 13, 1830, he describes his
journey through Birmingham and Manchester.
His letter gives a good idea of the discomforts
of travelling in the early part of the century.

' My journey,' he says, ' to Manchester was a
very wet one, and marked by nothing in particular
but a very musical guard, and that instead of
riding over the Derbyshire hills I found myself,
to my great surprise, discharged at the Swan Inn,
Birmingham, about nine o'clock in the evening.
They told me that the coach for Manchester would
start In half an hour ; but It was near eleven
o'clock before we started, so I was prevented
from calling on anyone in that place, in conse-
quence of momentary expectation of being called
upon to mount the coach. The night set In so
drearily that I agreed to take an inside place If

* Knight's Eng. Cyclop. : Biography.

1824-33 ON THE MANCHESTER COACH 4

there should be a vacancy, for the Worcester
coach had to carry us on to Manchester; how-
ever, it was full inside, so I was compelled to
mount the box. The rain slackened about four
in the morning. I was " nid-nid-noddin'," and saw
all manner of odd things in the road — thought I
saw you sitting on the off leader's crupper, and
nearly bolted forwards in an attempt to shake
hands ; when I recovered myself, you were
gone and the leaders were making towards the
parapet of a small bridge. I punched coachee in
the ribs, and seized hold of the reins ; he woke up
just in time to back us into the middle of the
road, but got to nodding again as soon as he
cleared the bridge, so that I was kept effectually
awake for the rest of the stage when daylight
fairly broke upon us. The thick white masses
of cloud rolled sullenly off, scattering a few drops
as they passed over us ; but at length the sun
struggled upwards and shone out upon us all day;
At eleven o'clock in the morning I reached
Manchester, at six in the eveni"ng Lancaster.
The approach to the town was rendered very
beautiful by the clearness of the atmosphere, and
the evening sun gilding the turrets of the old
castle.'

After his return to London his mother writes :
' I have, my dear lad, read your Catalogue quite
through, Latin and English, and have had the
pleasure of seeing your name in a philosophical

48 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. n.

review describing the air-vessels of the gannet,^
and also in some other periodical You may-
suppose what pleasure such things give me ! '
In a somewhat later letter she says : —
' I am sure you will be looking for a line from
your mother, so I avail myself of this opportunity
of sending you a letter.

' I sincerely hope you have got through the
difificult task of describing the finny tribe, ser-
pents, &c., and that your avocations will not
deprive you of taking the air and proper exercise
so essential to health. I have been much in-
terested with your Catalogue, which I have had

great pleasure in perusing I long to see

your account of the Orang® when it comes out
in full. We were much amused with the corre-
spondence on the subject. I hope you will be
properly paid for what you are to write on those
beautiful birds of Captain B.'s'^ for the Zoological.
. . . Present my kindest respects to Mr. and Mrs.
and Miss Clift. . . .'

In this year, while Owen was engaged on his
Catalogue of the Hunterian Collections, and in the
private practice which he had started in Cook's
Court, he had the good fortune to make Cuvier's
acquaintance ; for it was in 1830 that Baron
Cuvier paid his last visit to England. This visit,

= Gannet {Sula bassana) was finished shortly after this
Proc. Zool. Soc, 1831, p. 90. letter.

« This paper, begun in 1830, ' Captain Beechey.

1824-33 CUVIER AT THE COLLEGE 49

happening during the time of the abdication of
Charles X., caused the report in this country that
Cuvier had fled to avoid danger ; but the facts
were that the opportunities of absenting himself
were rare, and that he felt the necessity of coming
to Englandj more especially to gather materials
connected with his great work on fishes.

In a little note which Owen has written in a
Memoir of Baron Cuvier, he attributes his per-
sonal introduction to Cuvier mainly to the fact
that the great anatomist was unable to understand
English and converse in it, while Owen under-
stood French perfectly, and could speak it with
tolerable fluency.

'In the year 1830,' he writes, 'I made
Cuvier' s personal acquaintance at the Museum of
the College of Surgeons, and was specially de-
puted to show and explain to him such specimens
as he wished to examine. There was no special
merit in my being thus deputed, the fact being
that I was the only person available who could
speak French, and who had at the same time
some knowledge of the specimens. Cuvier kindly
invited me to visit the Jardin des Plantes in the
following year.'

The result of Cuvier's invitation was that, in
July 1 83 1, Owen visited Paris for the first time.
Cuvier was still engaged with Valenciennes in
preparing their great work on fishes, on which
both expended an enormous amount of time and

VOL. I. E

50 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. II.

labour. During this visit to Paris, Owen ex-
amined the fossil vertebrate collection and re-
ceived some hospitality and attention from Cuvier.
How far these opportunities affected his mind
with regard to this branch of scientific study is a
matter which is open to question.

If it is the case, as nearly all memoirs of Pro-
fessor Owen agree in stating, that Cuvier and his
collection ' made a great impression on Owen, and
gave a direction to his after-studies of fossil re-
mains, in which he was so eminently distinguished
himself,' then Owen has left no record of that
' impression.' His rough diary, which he kept
during his stay at Paris, seldom mentions the
fossil vertebrate collection, and shows that his
interviews with Baron Cuvier were for the most
part of a purely social character. It notes, for
example, that he attended pretty regularly Cuvier's
soirees, held on Saturday evenings, and that he
enjoyed the music. With the diary agree his
letters. Both devote page after page to the sights
and amusements of Paris. Owen, in fact, seems
to have regarded this stay at Paris as an ex-
ceedingly pleasant and entertaining holiday. At
the same time it is impossible to form a just
estimate of Owen's work without taking the
labours of Cuvier into account. Although
Owen stands on ground wholly his own, he was
ever willing to acknowledge the debt which he
owed to Cuvier. The relationship of the work

1834-33 VISIT TO PARIS 51

of these two men has been compared with that of
Turner and Claude in painting. Turner, it was
said, is independently great, though it is doubtful
if without the works of Claude ' he would ever
have painted that marvellous bit of cloud which
hangs side by side with Claude's chef cl^(zuvre
in the National Gallery.'

Richard Owen to Mr. Clift

H6tel du Jardin du Roi :

Rue Copen. No. 4, Paris.
August 2, 1831.

' My dear Sir, — My absence would assure you
that I was in time for the steamer, having got on
board ten minutes before she sailed ; she lay just
below melancholy old London Bridge, and I saw
the tents erected preparatory to the fhe of her
rival and prophetic of her own (fate !). I need
not say how much I enjoyed the sail down the
river, or dwell on the interesting objects that suc-
cessively presented themselves. When I passed
the Deptford chalk I thought of you, but was too
far off to distinguish any fossil bones sticking out.
Twenty men-of-war lay off Sheerness. Just before
sunset, which was very fine, I saw a Delphinus
tursio ? rolling onwards to the Thames. The
moon produced a very fine effect as it rose out of
the Zuyder Zee, scattering a flood of light over
the flickering waves, whilst around it the haze
appeared to reflect a glow of light like a distant

52 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. II.

fire. Notwithstanding these scenes, however, I
felt my heart beat quicker and my rheumatism
disappear as the revolving light of Calais came
into view. At the H6tel Meurice I first saw
the painted walls and sanded floors, and deter-
mined to quench my Anglicism in a basin of
bouillon ; it procured me a good night's rest, I
believe. The next morning at half-past nine I
entered the coupd of the diligence ; my fellow-
traveller was a Dr. Sayer, of London, who had
been detained by Buonaparte in 1802, as he was
returning with his father from a tour which made
his visit longer by ten years than he intended.
It was a beautiful moonlight night when we
entered Abbeville, which gave an air of romance
to the antique houses, the Abbey, and walls of
this old city. I recollected that this was once the
frontier town of the Spanish Netherlands, one 01
the thirty possessed by that overgrown state ; and
the habits of its various occupants and the muta-
bility of empires came crowding on my mind,
when the reverie was interrupted by the more
important circumstance of supper. The country
through which we passed had put on its richest
appearance — ripe corn, beans, hemp, and vines in
full foliage alternate with each other, and the
labourers of the harvest are in full song. Yet,
notwithstanding, I am struck with the inferiority
of this to our own country in point of all the
ordinary consequences of civilisation and pros-

1824-33 ARRIVAL IN PARIS

53

perity — few people to be seen on the road, still
fewer houses, and these but poor mud cottages ;
no private travelling, no carriages, but now and
then a solitary estafette. What an outrd thing
is a diligence ! Two coaches and a chariot joined
by symphysis or harmonia, sometimes five, some-
times six or seven horses, ropes every now and
then breaking ; the postillion always picturesque.
Nevertheless, I never slept more comfortably in
a coach than in the coupd ; and while travelling
in a strange country should always prefer making
my observations at a rate not quicker than five or
six miles an hour.

' It was nearly eight when we reached Paris
on Friday night (29th). We met numerous groups
of the Garde Nationale Rurale returning from
the grand review. On alighting we were told of
the illumination and fireworks about to take place,
so I determined to stay that night at the H6tel
des Messageries, and, after having got my luggage
into my apartment and some refreshment into
myself, I posted off to the Place Louis XV., which
I was told would be the best place for seeing
them, Imagine me following my nose and such
directions as I could comprehend, hustled about
in the crowd, every minute in danger of being
run over, and then on a sudden turn finding
myself in the most beautiful place in the world,
among noble walks, statues, flowers, fountains,
glassy pools — in short, in the garden of the

54 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ii.

Tuileries, brilliantly illuminated and traversed by-
thousands of Parisians in their gayest attire.
Here I wandered slowly about, now gazing at the
sculptured deities, now stopping to smell at rare
plants in full flower, till at length I found myself
on a terrace and looked down upon an immense
place bounded by illuminated houses. I then
approached a large building, the windows of which
were filled with officers and ladies, and at one end,
where the rooms appeared to be most brilliantly
lighted, and towards which I had strolled, I heard
a window suddenly thrown open and a fine form
in the national uniform leant forwards gracefully,
waving welcome with his hand to the crowds
below, whose responsive shouts left me in no
doubt that it was the King. A gun fired and a
rocket shot up from the front of the palace, which
was answered by an immense flight of rockets,
red, blue, and green balls from the Pont de la
Revolution, which were followed by others in
rapid succession, crossing each other and blending
their different coloured balls in a beautiful manner.
I should think altogether double the number of
those expended during a whole season at Vauxhall.
Then came a shower of lights which made it
brilliant daylight in that quarter.

' The King then again came forward with his
sons and his wife leaning over his shoulder,
and a crowd of ladies and officers behind him.
' C'est magnifique, c'est superbe ! ' how often I

1824-33 LAURILLARD AND CUVIER

55

heard them exclaim, and also, ' Mais, monsieur,
vous etes trop grand,' as they tried to peep over my
shoulder. At eleven I reached my hotel, and
slept sound in spite of the shouts and firing. The
next morning I set off to the H6tel du Jardin du
Roi ; not the one I spoke of, for I thought it best
to be close to the spot. I met M. Royer in the
garden with a sister of charity, who had come to
beg a few camomile tops. I left my letter with
him for Mr, Pentland,^ and he told me to call
-again, on Monday before nine, and he would
introduce me to Cuvier. His inquiries after you
and all the family were warm and frequent, and
his good wishes towards you, I am sure, were
sincere. Poor Laurillard is very ill at St.
Germains. M. Royer did not scruple to say
Cuvier was killing him with work — that when he
was in town he ( Laurillard) was .employed drawing
and writing from 6 A.M., sometimes to twelve at
night. After this interview I strolled through the
garden, and suddenly came upon the giraffe in-
closed in a high paled inclosure along with some
Indian species of oxen. He was standing in the
sunshine and amusing himself by. twisting his
long tongue, and pulling out the straws which
formed the partition between his and a contiguous
inclosure. In walking I observed he first moves
a fore foot ; second, the hind foot of the opposite

» Joseph Barclay Pentland, Bolivia, and long resident in
some time British Consul in Rome. Died 1873.

S6 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ii.

side, which is very quickly followed by the fore foot
of the same side, and then the hind foot of the other
side, and almost at the same time the foot which
was first moved ; the gait then proceeds, the legs-
of the same side appearing to move simultaneously,
although not exactly, a trifling interval intervening
before the fore foot is lifted up. While marching,
his long neck is generally stretched out in a line
with his body, but in almost every other attitude
he strikes me as being a most beautiful and
singular animal. If I can recollect the building I
will put it as a background to the drawing in
Caroline's Album.

' On Monday morning I called on M. Royer
and found him at breakfast, after which he
brought me to Cuvier, who was in one of his little
rooms writing. I gave him the Catalogues, with
your best respects, &c. He begged me to return
his thanks to you for them and for the others
which he had received. He thanks you also for
the sketch of the Dasyurus ; he then took me into
the museum, and begged me to visit it whenever
I pleased ; and also to attend his soirees Saturday
evening, < after which he returned to his work.
M. Royer then took me through the museum,
gave me the necessary ticket for the other collec-
tions, presented me with his translation of
Deleuze's " Hist, of the Museum'," and I left him
with the impression of his estimable qualities very
strong on my mind.

1824-33 VISIT TO THE 'INSTITUTE' 57

' In the afternoon I went with Dr. Lauth
(who lodges in the same hotel and desires to be
remembered kindly and respectfully to yourself,
Mrs. Clift, and all the family) to the Institute.
There I saw Cuvier, Humboldt, Geoffroy St.-
Hilaire, Blainville, Chaptal, Latreille, Jussieu,
Dupuytren, Dutrochet (who read a paper), Milne
Edwards, and also Mr. Underwood and Pentland.
The latter promised to meet me in the museum
this (Friday) morning to prove to me that the
ox's bone is an elephant's ; and he is going to-
morrow to England, and will, I hope, take this
letter to you.

' Since Monday I have spent every morning
in the Museum of Comparative Anatomy and have
examined four of the rooms. The labels on the
preparations are more useful than ornamental, but
I shall not say more here on this subject, as I
have made notes in my journal. I have not yet
seen any of the sights, waiting till the weather is
a little cooler, for every day till to-day it has been
at about 75 or 80 in the shade. I have occasional
lessons in the afternoon on the violoncello from
Baudiot,^ who teaches at the Conservatoire, and I
think with some little benefit already. I gene-
rally read the papers at Galignani's after dinner,
where yesterday I met McWhinnie, who stayed

' This old man's proudest him and offered him a pinch of
boast was that the Emperor snuff after one of his perform-
Napoleon one day came up to ances on the 'cello.

58 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. n.

behind. Last night I went to the Theatre
Frangais, and saw " Ecole de Vieillards" and a new
piece. I did not stay for the last, the theatre
was so close. It is prettily built, but the decora-
tions are faded. The statue of Voltaire in the
salle is worth all the money.

' With my best love to all, believe me ever
yours most truly,

' Richard Owen.'

In the beginning of September 1831 Owen
returned to London. His mother says in a letter
dated from Lancaster September 8, 1831, 'that
she thinks he must have been highly gratified by
his " trip to Paris," and by the sight of all its
wonders.' She hopes when he has time that he
will give them a full account of it all. That
account he sent soon after, for in another letter
dated October 6, 1831, his mother writes thus : —
' Thank you for the amusing journal of your
visit to Paris, more especially for the time and
trouble of writing it, as you had so much employ-
ment for your pen with the Catalogue, the
finishing of which I shall rejoice to hear. I
felt much concern about your health, fearing
that, as you were not quite well, the hurry of
seeing sights might have been too much for
you. Your being noticed by Cuvier was for-
tunate, and your having access to his museum
would be an advantage in your profession on

1824-33 'MEMOIR ON THE PEARLY NAUTILUS'

59

many accounts, and I trust you will reap the
benefit of it ultimately. . . .

' I look forward with great and anxious plea-
sure to the time when we may expect you to visit
Lancaster, my dear son, which I fear may not
be till next summer — a long period for one at
my time of life. . . .'

Owen was occupied during the end of 1831
and beginning of 1832 with the work which first
attracted the attention of scientific men towards
him, namely the ' Memoir on the Pearly Nautilus,
1832,' the description of which seemed to have
given his mind a bent in a definite direction.

On the appearance of this memoir it was
translated into French by Milne Edwards, and
into German by Oken. In it the author enters,
in a way characteristic of subsequent memoirs, into
collateral questions on which the new facts threw
light. He modifies the Cuvierian classification
of Cephalopoda, based on characters of the shell,
and proposes, on anatomical grounds, the orders
Dibranchiata and Tetrabranchiata, which have
been accepted.

He had meanwhile moved from Cook's Court
to Symond's Inn, as we find from an old inventory
of his furniture, some of which was sold in the
move. In a letter to Miss Clift, dated from the
College of Surgeons, April 24, 1832, he is anxious
that she should lend him her assistance in ' en-
deavouring to abridge the term that opposes

6o PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ii.

itself to our union — to the consummation of the
great happiness, as I do believe it will be, of both
our lives.'

In the same letter Owen refers to his income,
and gives some interesting details of his work : —

' I have heard that Harrot ^ and you once
projected living like two Vestals in a cottage ; do
you think she would object to your introducing a
third party into the plan, in the shape of your
husband, who, besides the additional protection,
might add to the resources of the company 200/.
per annum ? You know it must be in time, but
at present our ruling Goths are blind to what
every one else sees, which, to speak very modestly,
is my merit. Mr. Keate is, I understand, very
wrath because I have been proposed for the New
Council at the Zoological Society, together with
two lords and a baronetj but only let him express
it in a tangible form. Nautilus ^ is nearly com-
pleted, and I am preparing a paper for the R.S.
which, if the subject were your merits, would give
me little trouble notwithstanding its necessary
length. . . .

• Above all, trust me,' he concludes, ' your
ever devoted and affectionate Richard.'

On May 3, 1832, Owen again writes to Miss
Clift, who had answered the former letter : —

1 Agreatfriendof Miss Clift's, ^ Memoir on the Pearly

afterwards her bridesmaid, by Nautilus.
name Miss Harriet Sheppard.

1824-33 PROBABLE EXPECTANCIES 6i

' You have now, my dear Caroline, effected
what I have long wished ; you have directed
your thoughts in a definite channel on the subject
of our approaching union, and have begun to
think of it as a thing certain and fixed, based on
a strong mutual affection, and an earnest desire
to increase each other's happmess. . . , We
must next calculate our resources and consider
the best mode of applying them.

' My 200/. I think is certain so long as I
remain at the College ; but that, I felt, was insuf-
ficient, even for our wants alone, consistent with
the respectability I am determined CO. shall
always command in the eyes of the world, and
therefore the idea of the cottage shot across me
as a present additional resource, and now, before
saying more on that, let me detail to you my
most probable expectancies. Some of the more
enlightened members of our College, Mr. Brodie,
Mr. Green, Mr. Mayo, and I believe Sir Astley,'
have thought and talked of the propriety of
establishing a permanent professorship, and a
more regular and extended course of lectures
than at present. I have been told by one of
them that they have considered me as calculated
to fulfil such an office (I confess I sometimes
doubt my powers), and 500/. per annum has been
hinted to me as the probable outside sum ; with
this I think I could be content, perhaps three

' Sir A. Cooper.

62 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ii.

years might accomplish it, and then, with what
happiness' should I clasp my dear Caroline after
having succeeded in my first course ! Now,
said I to myself, what is to hinder my dear Cary
and me from quietly enjoying ourselves in a more
humble way in the meanwhile, and then comes
in the cottage and Harrot ? Now, will you write
to her or speak to her ? for first we must not be
too far off; / vrntst work and study hard, and
that I cannot do with effect, till I can "calm
this troubled breast " and call you indeed my
own.'

In a postscript to this letter Owen says : ' Not-
withstanding this subject interests us so deeply,
the grounds of our proceedings are plain and com-
prehensible, and I think you may safely trust your
own judgment, as I would rather you should. I
have from very early life been thrown among
strangers and have had a greater control over my
own actions than is usual, and am perhaps from
habit too jealous of receiving even a bias from any
comparatively indifferent person. I have the great-
est confidence in your judgment ; it was observ-
ing the admirable control you had acquired over
yourself in circumstances that made me feel my
comparative weakness that has chiefly tended to
engender a feeling almost more than love to you.'

On May ii, 1832, he again writes to Miss
Clift : ' I fear you open my letters with a more
trembling hand than you direct your own, but you

1824-33 HIS FIRST VISIT TO CAMBRIDGE 63

need not dread the contents of this ; in the short
struggle we have had 'gainst Fate and Necessity

you have performed your part nobly I have

now begun seriously to consider how I may improve
my fortunes, and for that purpose have been ex-
ploring Chancery and other Lanes in the legal
atmosphere for some sufficiently convenient and
conspicuous consulting-room, for the only con-
nexion I have is a slight one among the lawyers,
I have had some distant overtures from the Zoo-
logical Society to doctor their brutes, but I feel
some degree of repugnance at turning veterinary,
though it were only for a time. ... ,1 shall soon
have effected that step which will remove much un-
easiness from all [i.e. general practitioner.] I shall
then only have to wait for what Providence pleases
to send in the way of patients, and trust in time to
be independent of the old governors,* who have
been showing some crusty symptoms of late to all
of us.'

During the time between writing the last
two letters Owen evidently paid his first visit to
Cambridge, for he says : ' Cambridge is the most
interesting place I have ever visited, not even ex-
cepting Paris. I was there five days, during which
my friend George Langshaw ^ took his M. A.
degree. He stands high in his college, but notwith-

* Ofthe College of Surgeons. afterwards Vicar of St. Andrew's

^ An old schoolfellow and the Great, Cambridge, where

fellow-townsman of Owen's, his work was long remembered.

64 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ii.

Standing he has a fellowship, is going to enter the
busy world as a curate at Birmingham, preferring
activity to idle ease.' The letter concludes with
a note that ' the viollo is decidedly improved.'

The following letter, written to Dr. Buckland
just before the publication of Owen's paper on the
Pearly Nautilus, is interesting as showing the im-
portance Owen himself attached to the work he
had just completed : —

Richard Owen to the Rev. Dr. Buckland

9 Symond's Inn : July 28, 1832.

' My dear Sir, — As there may be still some
weeks' delay before the College copies of the de-
scription of Nautilus reach Oxford, I have taken
the liberty to send for your acceptance one of the
few private copies containing proofs from the first
fifty sets of plates. Since the decease of the
lamented Cuvier, there is no one whose opinion
on this work I look for with more anxiety than
your own. Being deeply impressed with the
responsibility attached to the examination of an
animal so rare, and regarded with so much interest
by the most eminent characters in the scientific
world both here and abroad, I have earnestly
endeavoured to be accurate in the descriptive part,
and neither to overlook nor overstate anything. But
until this account be confirmed by the examina-
tion of a second specimen, much of its value will
depend upon the light in which it is regarded by

1824-33 THE PEARLY NAUTILUS 65

the masters in natural science. If their opinion
be favourable, how amply will my pains be re-
warded !

' I remain, with much respect, your faithfdl and
obliged friend and servant,

' Richard Owen.'

Writing to Clift from Oxford, Dr. Buckland
makes the following remarks on Owen's descrip-
tion of the Pearly Nautilus : —

' I received safe nearly a month ago Mr.
Owen's admirable work on the Nautilus Pompi-
lius, and am very much obliged by the early com-
munication of it and highly gratified by the most
able and masterly and satisfactory manner in
which he has conducted the whole investigation of
this most interesting animal.'

The following letter, written after the publica-
tion of the ' Pearly Nautilus ' by Mr. J. B. Pentland
to Mr. Clift, and dated from Paris, November 5,
1832, will show the estimation in which the work
was held : —

' . . . We have seen here, but for a moment, your
friend Mr. Owen's paper on the Nautilus, one of
the most interesting additions to natural science
that has been made for some time. How delighted
poor Cuvier would have been to peruse it ! But
alas !

' My own movements are doubtful. I cannot
leave Paris until I have completed what I have

VOL. I. F

66 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ii,

undertaken to do for Madame Cuvier, and it is a
debt I owe to him who is now no more.

'J. B. Pentland.'

In December we find Owen making experi-
ments for Dr. Buckland as to the means by which
the nautilus rises and sinks. The letters are tech-
nical, but the following extract shows Owen's
ideas of Buckland's work : — ' December 14, 1833.
No one, however, I imagine, can refuse their
assent to the theory you have so beautifully deve-
loped, and I feel much honoured by your being
pleased to think it of any moment to add to your
observations, that I am perfectly satisfied and con-
vinced that it affords an adequate explanation of
the means by which the nautilus rises and sinks,
and is also in harmony with what we may rea-
sonably conceive to be the movements of the
animal both at the surface and the bottom of
the sea.'

About a year later Sir Anthony Carlisle thus
addresses Owen on the subject of the Pearly
Nautilus : —

' My dear Owen, — I have lately looked through
your story of the Pearly Nautilus, and am better
satisfied with the dark engravings. The letter-
press improves on re-reading. It is an excel-
lent specimen of Hunterian-Cuvierian Natural
History, but, as I at first foresaw, your pearls are
thrown before swine. If the English medical hog-

1824^33 DEATH OF MR. CLIFT'S SON 67

trough should be cleared out in our time, there is
a gleam of hope for science among a small few,
but you must not feel disappointed by the general
neglect of your researches. . . .

' Ever yours,

'A. Carlisle.'

In September 1832 an event took place which
entirely altered Owen's prospects at the College
of Surgeons. Hitherto, as has been stated, he was
assistant only ' during the pleasure of the Curators,'
and his fellow-assistant was William Home Clift,
Mr. Clift's only son, who had been promised the
post of Conservator at his father's death. Owen
was quite aware of the fact that, as things stood,
he had no chance of advancement in the museum.

But on the i ith of this month, Miss Clift states
in her diary, that as young Clift was returning
home one evening in a cab, the driver on entering
Chancery Lane out of Fleet Street turned too
suddenly, upset the cab, and pitched her brother
on to his head. He was taken up insensible and
carried to St^ Bartholomew's Hospital, where he
was received by Owen. It was soon found that
he had sustained a fracture at the base of his
skull, and he died after lingering a few days. At
the time Mr. Clift was away from home taking
his holiday in the country, and, as he was travel-
ling about from place to place, it was some days
before the news could be communicated to him.

68 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ii.

He only arrived to find his son at the point of
death. It was naturally a great grief to Mr. Clift,
but at the same time it was a consolation to know
that Owen would eventually stand in the place of
his son, both in the museum and at home. After
the death of William Home Clift, Owen remained
the only assistant, and was paid at the rate of
200/. per annum until July 1833, when his salary
was increased to 300/. per annum — i.e. to the same
amount as that which the Conservator was receiv-
ing, except that the latter received an extra
gratuity of 100/. annually.

The Christmas of that year Owen spent in
Lancaster, and in a letter dated December 24,
written to Mrs. Clift to announce his safe arrival,
he says : ' Everything shows how little change
Lancaster has undergone since the days of my
childhood. ... I sent for the barber this morn-
ing to hear all the current scandal, &c.' He also
mentions a delay of three hours in getting to
Manchester ' in consequence of the coach taking
in, I should think, near a ton of oysters at
Islington.'

1833-36 THE 'ZOOLOGICAL MAGAZINE' 69

CHAPTER III

1833-36

Eton in 1833 — Professor of Comparative Anatomy at St. Bartholo-
mew's, 1834 — F.R.S., 1834 — Marriage to Caroline Clift, 1835 —
Early Married Life.

While preparing the Catalogue of the Hunterian
Collections, and in the intervals of his work as a
medical practitioner, Owen founded and wrote the
greater part of a periodical which was issued in
monthly numbers, called ' The Zoological Maga-
zine.' This he carried on at his sole cost from
January to June 1833, but after six numbers of it
had appeared he disposed of the copyright to the
printers, Taylor and Francis.

In April he received the news of his election
into the St. Bartholomew's Club, which was
founded in 1832, and consisted of officials and
past and present students of the hospital.

In July 1833 Owen accompanied his old
schoolfellow, George Langshaw, to Eton, and
the following long letter to his mother, dated
College of Surgeons, July 29, may be found of
interest : —

70 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. hi.

' ... He (George Langshaw) wrote to me
last week to come over and witness the festivities
which usually take place when the Eton boys
break up, and the interest of the scene and place,
with the fine weather, made the offer too tempting
to be resisted. . . . My opposite neighbour in
Symond's Inn — ^^Mr. Hepworth — kindly offered
me the use of his mare . . . and thinking the
exercise would be of service to me I ventured to
accept the offer. Behold me, then, at 9 a.m.,
Saturday morning last, cantering through Lin-
coln's Inn on a very handsome and pleasant-going
nag, threading my way with some degree of
nervousness among the cabs and carts and other
vehicles of the crowded streets, and thankfully
leaving the same at Apsley House, where I
turned into Hyde Park. There a pleasant shady
ride extends to Kensington, where you again
enter the main road, along which I went pretty
quickly till I got to the " Black Dog," near Staines,
where we rested for an hour and then went
leisurely on to Windsor. . , . At a quarter-past
three I reached Eton, and, having put up my nag
at the " Christopher," opposite the College, went
to Miss Middleton's, next door to the inn, the
dame with whom Langshaw and his pupil, Lord
Blantyre, reside. . . . Some of the boys having
had leave to go before the day of dismissal, I had
one of their rooms on the ground floor, which, as
it will give you an idea of the accommodation the

1833-36 VISIT TO ETON

71;

young gentlemen have, I will describe. They
are limited to a single room each, in which there
is a turn-up bed, with their chest of drawers and
wash-stand ; two Or three chairs, a small table,
reading stand, and book-case complete the furni-
ture. My room looked into the same garden as
George's. ' Mydelton ' cut on the bedstead indi-
cated the previous possessor. . . . The dames'
houses are all situated within the College, and
built with a view of rendering escape from them
as difficult and detectable as possible. The en-
trance to them from the street is by a long, low,
and narrow passage, but the house itself is sur-
rounded by gardens, which have high walls
separating them from the fields ; the windows of
such of the rooms as might afford any outlet are
barred and grated. . . , After dinner, went to
hear the speeches of the scholars elected to
King's College, Cambridge, spoken before the
Provost of the College. On this occasion he sits
in the Master's seat and takes precedence of him.
The boys are in full dress and step out into a
clear space in front of the Provost, behind whom
are a series of raised seats for visitors. We were
admitted on the floor, and sat behind the Fellows
of Etori. It was a very interesting sight ; the
speeches were in Latin and Greek, selected from
different classical authors. When that was over
we proceeded to walk to the river side to see a
procession of the boys in boats. They go up the

7? PROFESSOR OWEN CH. iii.

river in ten-oared cutters, each boat manned by-
scholars in their particular uniforms and carrying
a flag with their own device ; the steersman is
dressed in midshipman's uniform. There were
about eight of these larger boats with many of
smaller size, the whole preceded by barges
carrying the bands of the Blues and Foot
Guards, playing alternately. Whilst this gay
combination of pleasing sights and melody was
following the windings of the stream, its progress
was accompanied by troops of horsemen on the
banks ; these were headed by Prince George of
Cambridge on a beautiful cream-coloured pony,
with his companions, the two young Seymours,
his tutor, and a number of grooms ; there were
also several officers of the Blues, who had pro-
bably been themselves Eton boys. Prince
George often nodded to boys in the boats, who
returned his salute by rising and taking off their
caps. After a row of about three miles, the boats'
crews landed and severally sat down to long
tables, covered with a cold collation. The tables
were placed in an enclosed piece of ground, round
which a number of carriages had been previously
collected, with the friends of the happy lads, who
were now enjoying with a double zest their holiday
festivities. It was amusing to see the little fags
each waiting behind his master, handing the wine
about, &c. , and now and then treated with a glass
themselves or a half-picked bone of chicken. I

1833-36 ETON FESTIVITIES 73

observed, however, that the unfortunate bones
were not released from maxillary exactions when
the fags had done picking them, but were eagerly
fought for — trae bones of contention — by nume-
rous smock-frocked urchins who surrounded the
tables at more humble distance, a distance
which the fags preserved by bestowing hearty
aristocratic kicks on any intruder of the latter
class. . . . The boats came racing down, the
crews vociferating and taunting each other, elated
with wine, and emancipated from restraint. Just
above Eton Bridge there is a little island ; here
they had erected a stage for fireworks, and a
triumphal archway, lighted with coloured lamps,
bearing the Eton arms and motto, Floreat Etona !
While the fireworks were let off the ten-oared
boats continued to row- round the island, passing
at each circuit through the arches of the bridge ;
sixteen times these boys continued to pull round,
and as they floated past the island every boat's
crew stood up with their oars raised and cheered
the insignia of their school. During this time the
little island was illuminated by different coloured
lights, red, blue, green, &c., the effect of which,
upon the boats and the crowds which lined the
river banks, was strangely beautiful. We could see
lights in the apartments of the Castle (Windsor),
where the royal party were watching the opera-
tions of the boys. . . . Next morning we break-
fasted together in George's room, after which we

74 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ili.

settled our operations for the day, proposing, first,
to go to Windsor Church and hear Milman the
poet preach a charity sermon ; second, to go and
hear the concluding anthem at the Chapel Royal
and see the King and Queen come out ; third, walk
on the terrace ; fourth, return and lunch ; fifth, go
to Eton College Chapel ; sixth, go again to the
terrace and hear the bands play ; seventh, return
and dine, after which I was not sorry that a shower
of rain confined us at home, for I felt rather stiff.
The chanting at Eton Chapel was beautiful. I sat
in one of the stalls next the reader ; opposite me
was Dr. Keate, the justly dreaded Head-master,
the sight of whose countenance is said to strike
terror into the boys long after they have left
school, and truly it is awful. When service is over
the boys remain till they have permission to go
out, and they press forward in a dense mass in the
body of the chapel opposite the Master's seat
waiting for the word of command.

' After breakfast on Monday morning we
went to Eton College, but without any certain
plan of getting into the schoolroom to see the
ceremony of breaking up. Two companies of
Foot Guards had piled their arms in the outer
court ready to receive their Majesties, and a
detachment of the Blues were parading up and
down the road in front of the building. The
groups of boys were scattered about planning
their holiday amusements and modes of de-

1833-36 'BREAKING-UP' DAY AT ETON 75

parture, and a concourse of ladles had assembled
at the door leading to the back of the school-
room. This part was occupied by a series of
raised benches behind the seats appropriated for
their Majesties and suite. In front of the latter
was a semicircular space destined for the speakers
of the speeches ; the rest of the schoolroom was
occupied by series of forms disposed length-
wise, and rising one above the other on either
side a middle alley leading from the main
entrance of the schoolroom to the open space in
front of the royal chairs. From this description
you will perceive that, had we gone in with the
visitors, we should have been behind the King.
George, therefore, cast about for one of the
masters, who intimated to us that if we came in
along with the boys we might slip into the side
seats flanking the middle alley, and he thought
that, as George was well known to many of them,
they would not treat us as intruders. We accord-
ingly crept in with the rear and clambered up
into a capital place for seeing the tout ensemble.
In the meantime Dr. Keate was darting up and
down the middle alley marshalling the boys and
enforcing order and silence, which he had some
trouble to do, as some of the urchins seemed
inclined to be rebellious on the eve of emanci-
pation. Black neckcloths are forbidden to the
scholars ; but many of them had put them on in
a spirit of boyish daring this morning. Still, such

76 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. in.

was the influence of old Keate's countenance,
that, whichever way he turned, the unacademic
handkerchiefs were whipped off or hidden by the
brim of the hat. George felt averse to being
seen in a place not appropriated to visitors, so he
stooped behind the boys, and I sat down to be
out of sight. Keate, however, espied me in that
posture, and thinking it was an oppidan, said
sharply, " Sit up, sir ; sit up, sir !" At which I
gathered myself gradually high above the rest,
like long Tom Coffin, to the great amusement of
the lads, who laughed heartily both at the Head-
master, who looked a little confused, and myself.
This amused George very much. At length, the
middle alley being cleared, the Head-master and
the rest walked out to prepare for the reception
of their illustrious visitors. Two of the College
porters, with staves crossed, blocked up the en-
trance, by which the scholars atid ourselves had
come in. Soon after, the trumpets and roll of the
carriages announced the royal party's arrival.
We had by this time insinuated ourselves within
one bench of the middle alley, and very near the
open space, so that we had the best possible
view of the King and Queen as they marched in
procession with the Court and the heads of the
College along the alley. His Majesty was re-
ceived with loud cheers from all the boys, and
waving of hats, which he graciously returned
before he sat down. The Queen took her seat a

1833-36 WILLIAM IV. AT ETON 77

little way to the left of the King, and on his right
hand, but closer to him, sat the Princess Augusta.
With the usual officers of the Court were the
Duke and Duchess of Rutland, Marquis and
Marchioness of Londonderry, &c. The seats
behind the royal party were crowded with ladies
and a few gentlemen. Milman sat in the middle
of the front seat ; the officers of the Guards
scattered about added to the brilliancy of the
scene. Immediately behind the King's chair
stood Dr. Goodall, the Provost of Eton, and on
either side of him the fellows and masters, &c.
. . . The speeches were declaimed by the boys
elected to King's College ; but they were not all
the same as those who had spoken on the Satur-
day evening. A Mr. Erskine spoke first- — an
English poem composed for the occasion in
honour of their Majesties' visit. It contained
some good Tory sentiments. The other speeches
were partly Greek, Latin, and English, the latter
from Cato and " Paradise Lost ; " the passage
from Milton was the dialogue between Gabriel
and Satan. The young gentleman who supported
the character of the heavenly messenger was of
a sad aspect, thin, pinched features, and sandy
hair. The jokes of the boys were very amusing
and characteristic. At the close of each speech
the orator bowed to the King ; but he com-
menced without any prefatory obeisance, the
reason given was that he should not do anything

78 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. hi.

to take away from the character he represents till
his part is ended. Their action is graceful but
formal, and has a sameness necessarily dependent
on its artificial acquisition which prevents the
manifestation of individual differences. They
raise the right arm on minor emphasis, and both
arms when a climax occurs. The King testified
his pleasure by tapping the arm of his chair and
a slight^ inclination of his head ; and he re-
peatedly turned to Dr. Goodall to note the
names of the speakers. At the conclusion of the
orations he rose, bowed first to the heads of the
College, then to the scholars, and lastly turned
again to the visitors and his own suite, who then
rose. The lords in waiting then walked back-
wards before the King till he came to the middle
of the open space. There Dr. Goodall an-
nounced that, at His Majesty's request, an addi-
tional week was granted to the Easter holidays,
if the boys did not object. This was received
with renewed and deafening cheers, amid which
the royal party retired as they had entered.

' I was glad to see that the cheers were again
repeated as Dr. Keate passed down the alley,
which he returned with some good-humoured
nods which seemed to say, " Yes! you young
rogues, you may thank me for flogging into you all
the good you are ever likely to get in this world." ' ^

' The conclusion of this but was rewritten by Owen
letter had apparently been lost, himself after 1856 !

1833-36 AS PROFESSOR AT BARTS'

79

Owen then relates his journey back to town
and concludes : ' I may just mention having been
for the first time, last night, at the House of
Lords. Blantyre, being admitted in his own
right, gave me an order which Lord Southampton
had sent him. I heard the Duke of Wellington,
Earl Grey, the Chancellor (Brougham), Duke of
Sussex, Duke of Buckingham, Lord Eldon,
and a few others speak, and saw some of the
"forms" of the "House." I shall now settle
down with goodwill to my usual occupations,
which, believe me, I would not exchange for the
duties of the Premier. I did not envy his or
the Chancellor's compulsory attendance for a long
and tedious sitting in a close and over-heated
apartment.'

Early in 1834 Owen was appointed to the
newly established chair of Comparative Anatomy
at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Here he num-
bered amongst his pupils Rymer Jones, Arthur
Farre, and William (afterwards Sir William)
White Cooper, all of whom became his intimate
friends.

In the same year Owen was elected F.R.S.
The original certificate stands as follows : —

' Richard Owen, Esq., Assistant Conservator
in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons
— a gentleman intimately acquainted with Physi-
ology, Comparative Anatomy, and the various
bi'anches of Natural History, author of a paper on

go y PROFESSOR OWEN CH. in.

the " Ornithorhynchus paradoxus," printed in the
" Philosophical Transactions," and of another on
the " Generation of Marsupial Animals " recently
read before the Society — being desirous of be-
coming a Fellow of the Royal Society, We whose
names are underwritten do from our personal
knowledge recommend him as highly deserving
of that honour, and likely to prove a valuable and
useful member.

J. BOSTOCK. W. J. BRODERIP,

William Blizard. W. H. Sykes.

B. C. Brodie. T. Copeland.

Joseph Henry Green. Thos. Phillipps.

Edward Stanley. William Clift.

M. I. Brunel. J. McGrigor.

John Edw. Gray. J. Hodgson.

Ja. Clark. Joseph Sabine.

J AS. Clark Ross. Benj. Travers.

T. J. Pettigrew. Wm. Kirby.

W. Spence. N. a. Vigors.

Marshall Hall. R. H. Solly.'
A. Copland Hutchinson.

'May i^iA, 1834. — A certificate was presented
in favour of Richard Owen, and was signed by
" B. C. Brodie, Joseph Henry Green, Edw. Stan-
ley, William Clift, M. I. Brunei, J. McGrigor,
John Edw. Gray." '

'December i2,tk, 1834. — Sir Benjamin Collins
Brodie, Bart., Vice-President, in the chair.
Richard Owen elected F.R.S.'

1833-36 GEOFFROY ST.-HILAIRE 81

'January 15, 1835. — John Wm. Lubbock,
Esq., V.P. and Treasurer, in the chair. Richard
Owen was admitted into the Society — and signed
the Charter Book.'

In October 1834 a paper was read at the
' Acad6mie des Sciences ' entitled ' Deux Me-
moires au sujet des Monotremes,' by Geoffrey St.-
Hilaire. In the first article he speaks thus of
Owen : ' II est fort soigneux d'aller aux informa-
tions aupres de ceux de ses compatriotes qui arri-
vent journellement de 1' Australia : il possede, par
consequent, beaucoup de precieux documents,
et salt leur donner souvent toute la valeur sci-
entifique qui leur appartient : si bien que je
reste convaincu qua lui demeurera en definitive
I'honneur d'amener une aussi curieuse question a
sa derniere forme et solution ' (p. 20). In another
place, in mentioning Owen, he speaks of the
' caractere loyal et conscientieux qui le carac-
terise ' (p. 6).

On the vexed question of the egg-bearing
of the Duck-billed Platypus (Ornithorhynchus),
Owen writes thus to GeoftVoy, after acknowledging
some pamphlets he had received from him on
this subject : —

' Je vous remettrais la premiere ornithorhyn-
que femelle intacte qui tombe dans mes mains ;
toutes celles que je possede jusqu'a present sont
plus ou moins mutil6es dans la partie qui vous
interesse le plus. ... La femelle de laquelle M.

VOL. I. G

82 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. iii

Pentland vous a parle n'appartient pas au Musee
des Chirurgiens ; on la conserve dans un Musde
Militaire a Chatham, d'ou un de mes amis m'a
ecrit sur le sujet, disant quelle avait des oeufs
dans I'oviductus. J'ai dissequd cette femelle et
j'ai trouv6 trois ovules dans I'ovaire gauche sem-
blables a tous 6gards a celles representees dans
ma planche xvi., mais pas une seule dans Toviduc-
tus ou ad uterum. J'ai depuis re9u deux oeufs
a coque calcaire de la Nouvelle-Galles du Sud,
donnes par les natives pour les oeufs de I'ornitho-
rhynque. Je les ai cassd ; I'un contenait le foetus
d'un ophidien ! 1' autre le foetus d'un lezard ! Je
n'ai pu obtenir rien de positif sur les produits de
generation des Monotremes ; mais j'ai toujours
cru que leur generation serait semblable a celles
des viperes et des salamandres — c'est-a-dire, ovo-
vivipare.'

This year Owen again spent his holiday in-
the Lake District, after visiting his mother and
sisters at Lancaster. Writing to Miss Clift from
Buttermere on August 7, 1834, he says : ' In the
midst of what I have always considered the
wildest and the simplest scenery of this romantic
country I sit down to give you a short and im-
perfect account of my excursion rambles. Inde-
pendently of other feelings, which have daily, I
might say with truth almost hourly, prompted
me to write to you, the knowledge of your love
of the beauties of Nature and your sympathy

1833-36 LETTER TO MISS CLIFT 83

with my own feelings and enjoyment of them gives
me double pleasure in attempting to communicate
to you what I can scarcely find words to express.
... I have no water colours with me, or I would
have painted a group [of flowers] which I amused
myself with composing. ... I ^ have attempted
some sketches with the camera lucida, which
answers the purpose of giving a correct outline
very well.' He describes his tour to Ambleside,
Rosthwaite, the Langdales, and Red Pike, and,
referring to his endeavour to find a safe descent,
says : ' Facilis descensus is Virgil's expression under
circumstances somewhat analogous, but he was
evidently no Highlander.' Describing a somewhat
difficult descent, he writes : ' I confess' at one
time the sight of a carrion crow winging its way
far below me led me to a serious speculation
on the probabilities of his having a meal upon
the carcass of an unfortunate anatomist.' He
refers again to the wish that Miss Clift shall visit
Lancaster, as his ' mother is particularly anxious
to see you ; she is visibly aged, but in good
health.'

On his journey back to London, Owen visited
Derby, and from there writes to Clift, August 21,
1834: *I have visited the Infirmary, and seen
their plan of mending broken legs without splints,
and afterwards went to the china factory and saw
the process of the reparation of broken plates.
Jones and I travelled from Liverpool to Man-

84 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. hi.

Chester by the railroad ; and I was as much
astonished at the process as before. It will be a
sin unpardonable if you do not adventure your
body in the ist class carriages (which be sure to
ask for, or they will put you in the 2nd.)'

The following extracts are made from Miss
Clift's diary for 1834 : —

'Friday, November 28.— -R. O. and I, with
my father and mother, went to the Adelphi
Theatre, where we were much pleased with all
four pieces, but particularly with the first, " Agnes
de Vere." Mrs. Yates' acting is beyond praise.
The second, " My First Night ; Or, the Ghost of
Myself," John Reeve the ghost!! The last a
funny little farce, " The Christening," by Buck-
stone, who played the Father of the baby, Mrs.
Keeley the Godmother, From the excessive heat,
owing to an overcrowded audience, no less than
three young men literally " went into fits " in the
pit. R. O. very kindly made his way through
the crowd and assisted the last two. Yates
stopped the scene when the one near the front of
the pit was taken ill, and procured and handed
over a glass of water.'

' December 1 8. — Made a drawing of a shark's
jaw at the request of Mr. Owen for Dr. Buckland's
forthcoming work.'

' i^th. — My Father dined with the club of the
Royal Society and was at the meeting to give his
vote to R. O., who dined with us. When my

1833-36 TAIL OF ICHTHYOSAURUS 85

Father came home we all drank congratulations
to R. O., now a Fellow.'

Owen published several memoirs this year, of
which the following may be mentioned as im-
portant : — ' A Description of the Ova of " Orni-
thorhynchus paradoxus" ("Phil. Trans."); 'A
Paper on the Dislocation of the Tail at a certain
Point observable in the Skeletons of many Ichthy-
osauria.' This latter paper, in which he sug-
gested that this dislocation signified the posses-
sion of a heavy caudal fin, affords an example of
Professor Owen's extraordinary powers of deduc-
tion. It was only in 1892, a short time before
his death, that his suggestion was proved to be
correct. In that year Dr. Everhard Fraas dis-
covered in the lias of Wlirtemberg the skeleton
of an ichthyosaur in which the outlines of the
fleshy parts were impressed on the stone. This
specimen also showed that the caudal fin was really
larger than Owen had ventured to imagine.^

At the time when these papers were written,
Owen was still continuing his work as Professor
of Comparative Anatomy at St. Bartholomew's.
In September 1834 he received the following
letter from Sir Anthony Carlisle. The letter is
quoted here in full, as It illustrates the difficulties
under which Owen worked in his earlier years,

" E. Fraas, ' Ueber einen fur Mineralogie, iig2, vol 2, p.,
neuen Fund von Ichthyosaurusin 87) ; see also R. Lydekker, Ahi-
Wurtemberg' {Neues Jahrbuch iural Science, Sept. 1892, p. 514.

86 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. hi.

and the fact that he had already felt the narrow-
ness of the field in which he had been placed. It
is possible that Carlisle, well knowing the apathy
of the reigning faction to the Hunterian Collection,
feared that Owen himself would be led away by
the enthusiasm of outside teaching from the true
purpose of his position. But Owen's energy and
powers proved to be such, that no amount of extra
work was permitted to interfere with his ordinary
routine : —

Sir Anthony Carlisle to Richard Owen

September lo, 1834.
' My dear Sir, — I wish you to understand that
I feel the greatest regard for you personally and
professionally, and I should lament any incident
which might lead you to doubt of my steadiness,
but we have severally many public charges which
should not be interrupted by misapprehension on
either side. You know how deeply I regret the
shameful delays in making Mr. Hunter's Works
public, and how basely one of my efforts to
awaken the slumbers of the profession by giving
my last Hunterian Oration was treated, not
merely by the active malevolence of ignorant
savages, but by the neglect of the whole College.
I knew that your fine specimen of physiological
anatomy would be' waste-paper in England, and
so will every similar effort until the great scheme
of scientific zootomy of Mr. Hunter is fully

1833-36 LETTER FROM SIR ANTHONY CARLISLE 87

explained. This never could be done by local
exhibition and by local lecturings. The press
and the engraver were always the proper modes
of showing and diffusing the system of medical
science contained in the College Museum ; and
to that object we are bound to devote ourselves
while the Council have the will and the means
to publish an illustrated catalogue. I was sorry
lander these strong impressions to read your name
as a Lecturer on Comparative Anatomy at St.
Bartholomew's Hospital, first because I know that
it will endanger your powerful position in the Col-
lege, for, whether those lectures may be received
with indifference or applause, the consequences
must be unpleasant. In the multitude of lectur-
ings which surgical and medical students are
required to attend, few students will have time
and still fewer the desire to study philosophical
anatomy. But if your well-deserved reputation
should promise you a remunerative class, and
give public renown to the hospital where those
lectures are delivered, what will the rival
hospital schools say ? They will appeal to the
College ; they will quote the express prohibition
in our bye-laws, and place us all in painful
circumstances. I think that at no distant time
the London University and King's College will
become the great schools for elementary medical
instruction, and the hospitals remain the scenes
of practical information. Then, indeed, physio-

88 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. hi.

logical anatomy might be taught in those col-
leges, and our illustrated catalogues, aided by-
special show-days for those selects of the profes-
sion, be becomingly appointed in our museum,
under such able demonstrators as yourself I
look forward to a different arrangement of the
College lectures, and a far more appropriate
selection of subjects after we have discharged
the long-neglected obligations imposed upon us
by the nation (the Catalogues of the Huntisrian
Collections), and much of this depends on you,
to whom both present and future glory must be
given.

' Come to me as often as you please, with
openness and confidence, and I will use my best
endeavours to promote your welfare in the College
and out of it.

' My dear Sir, truly yours,

'An. Carlisle.'

Richard Owen, Esq.

Owen evidently felt that he was able to fulfil
the duties which belonged to both institutions, and
when his Catalogue of Hunterian Preparations
appeared it certainly justified his position.

We have a glimpse of him as Professor of Com-
parative Anatomy at St. Bartholomew's in an ac-
count given by Miss Clift in her diary for May
1835 of a. prize day at the hospital.

' May 1 3. — Went with R. O. and my mother
to St. Bartholomew's Hospital to see the prizes

1833-36 ROOMS IN THE COLLEGE 89

given away to the students. The Professor of
each different subject made a speech (long or short
as the case might be) in introducing their prize-
man to the President. R. O., as Professor of Com-
parative Anatomy, said a few words to the point
in bringing forward the young man who gained
the prize on that subject.' There is a footnote
here in Professor Owen's handwriting stating the
man to be WilHam White Cooper.

About this time Owen gave up his lodgings
in Symond's Inn, and moved to apartments
provided for his use at the College of Surgeons,
which he was now making ready to receive his
future wife in two months' time. ' On leaving
the hospital,' Miss Clift continues, ' R. O. took us
to his house, where he regaled us with ices and
claret and cakes. We visited every part of the
house, and looked into the new part of the museum.
I was agreeably surprised at the size of the rooms
and the comfort of the kitchens, but the upstairs
is most inconvenient. It proved a wet afternoon,
so we came home in a coach from the house,
leaving R. O. to go to the great dinner of the
Governors.'

It is not to be wondered at that his mother
writes about this time to ' R. O. : ' 'You are daily
in my thoughts, as from your letters I cannot help
thinking that you are about to be married, and I
hope happily so ; from all that I have heard of the
young lady, there is, I think, every prospect of it.

90

PROTESSOR OWEN ch. iii.

You will observe how ill this is written, owing to
the unsteadiness in my right hand, but we must
submit to the approach of age ; therefore, my dear
Richard must not expect many letters from me.
Your sisters will write by every opportunity,
and I hope you will do the same.' On July
20, 1835, his birthday, the event took place to
which he had so long looked forward, his marriage
with Miss Clift.' It was a very quiet wedding,
and is thus described in the diary: — 'July 20. —
Richard Owen and I, my father and Harriet
Sheppard, were in the new St. Pancras Church,
Euston Square, by half-past eight o'clock. The Rev.
Mr. Laing came immediately after we got into the
vestry, and, Caroline Clift having been lost on the
road, Mrs. Richard Owen returned to breakfast at
No. 1 Euston Grove * ; after which my husband,
my myther, and I set off to Oxford, On the way
we left my mother to return to town by the same
post chariot which took us, as we changed it there
for another. We then posted on till we arrived at
Oxford in time for a late dinner. We left London
at 10.30 A.M.'

Later in this year an important microscopic
discovery was made by Owen — although at first it
seemedmerely a curiosity of science. Mr. Wormald,

^ The marriage certificate the presence of William Clift

states that Richard Owen, of the and Harriet Sheppard.

parish of St. Clement Danes, ■* The residence at that time

was married to Caroline Clift, of of Mr. and Mrs. Clift.
the parish of St. Pancras, in

1B33-36 DISCOVERY OF 'TRICHINA SPIRALIS' 91

of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, sent Tiim a piece
of human muscle accompanied by the following
letter : —

' Dear Owen, — I send you some sort of orga-
nised beings, as I believe, which occupy the muscles
of a subject now under dissection at St. B. H.,
and as I know you are a keen hand for parasitical
things from crabs downwards, I send the enclosed
for your inspection.

' Ever yours sincerely,
' Tho. Wormald.'

Upon examining this piece of muscle, Owen
discovered a new entozoon, the Trichina spiralis.
This minute worm ' is not limited in its distribu-
tion to the muscles of man,' but when found in
the human body not unfrequently causes death.
It is well known as producing the epidemic
trichinosis, which makes its appearance chiefly
in Germany, or in such places where diseased
pork or partially cooked ham are consumed. In
order to prosecute these discoveries, bits of decay-
ing muscle were often brought into the house
for examination, and on November 18 of this year
Mrs. Owen describes an evening's amusement : —
' Richard spent the evening in examining some
of the minute worms found in the muscles of
a man. I looked at one or two through the
microscope and saw [here there is a little sketch
of the trichina as it appeared under the micro-

Q2 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. III.

seope, and the cysts] one cut open. I could not
get over the smell of the decaying piece of muscle
for hours. R. only laughed, and assured me that
in comparison to what surgeons had often to
meddle with, it was quite sweet ! '

The diaries of Mrs. Owen are now kept almost
without a break up to 1873, the year of her death.
In many places Professor Owen has corrected or
annotated passages himself The following ex-
tracts are taken from the diary kept in 1 836 : —

'January 5. — Richard went to Bruton Street ^
to cut up an ostrich. He is now engaged in
writing on the " paper nautilus," and there is a
lovely little specimen in spirits on the table.'

' 26th. — R. went to a committee meeting at
Bruton Street about a museum. They are inclined
to take John Hunter's house in Leicester Square
for that purpose.'

'February 16. — R. again all day at Bruton
Street. Home at 10 p.m. After supper he

* The Zoological Society had specimens were removed to the
a museum at 33 Bruton Street Gardens, Regent's Park, in
from July 1826 to the end of December 1843 and January
1836, when the specimens were 1844 ; and the offices to 1 1 Han-
removed to 28 Leicester Square, over Square, where they have
formerly the residence of John since remained. The meetings
Hunter. The museum existed for scientific business were held
there until the end of 1841, at Bruton Street, Leicester
when it was removed to Dufours Square, and 57 Pall Mall, dur-
Place, while the offices of the ing the several periods above
society were removed to 57 Pall mentioned.— Dr. P. L. Sclater,
Mall, and continued there until in lift.
the end of 1843. The museum

1833-36 ROYALTY AT THE 'ZOO' 93

began to read " Eugene Aram " and went on till
2 o'clock.'

'March 13. — Sunday to St. Dunstan's. As
soon as we came back from church, R. set off to
meet Sir Anthony '' at the Zoo Gardens. When
he came back he told us that the poor little
chimpanzee was very ill — not expdtted to live.'

' \^th. — R. dined with the Linnaean Club
and went to the meeting in the evening. This
was his presentation, and Mr. Bennett presented
him. Mr. Bell was to have done so, but he
could not come. The Duke of Somerset was
president.'

' 20th. — To-day R. and I set off to the Zoo-
logical Gardens. We had only been there a few
minutes when the Duchess of Kent and the
Princess Victoria came in. The gentleman who
gave his arrn to the Princess was an elder brother
of the King of the Netherlands and brother to
the Duchess of Kent. His eldest son supported
his aunt. The Duchess looked very well, and
as amiable as usual. She had on an exquisite
satin dress, a very dark ground thickly strewed
with gorgeous flowers, and a, canary coloured
bonnet with roses. The Princess had on a deli-
cate sort of salmon-coloured checked silk, with a
cape, and a sky-blue satin bonnet. She is Very
fair, and looks clever and unaffected. They
walked all over the gardens, Mr. Bennett doing

* Sir Anthony Carlisle.'

94 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. iii.

the honours in a very pleasing manner. I was
thankful to see the other visitors did not press
the royal party, and it was very pleasant to see
the good feeling which welcomed them on every
side. They took great pains to visit and see
everything worth seeing, and seemed to greatly
enjoy the actions of the seal diving for fish.
They afterwards went into the room where the
poor little chimpanzee is lying so ill. We walked
back rather tired, and R. wrote downstairs till i
o'clock. We all set off (my father and mother
and myself) soon after 5 to Covent Garden
Theatre, but poor R. had to return home after
escorting us, as he could not spare the time.
Charles Kemble's benefit made a full house and
the entertainment was excellent. Miss Faucit
appeared for the first time as Lady Townly
(" Provoked Husband "). Though evidently very
nervous at the opening, she soon recovered her
self-possession and did herself justice. She never
approached coarseness or vulgarity in her retorts
and petulant upbraidings. Miss Taylor, as Miss
Jenny, received a broad hint from the audience
for over-acting the romp. She was fairly hissed
out of a game of marbles with Mr. Vale, who
played the bumpkin brother. Charles Kemble,
as Lord Townly, was all himself, needless to say.'
'Sunday, 2'jtk. — R. and I got up in good
time, and according to agreement went by 'bus to
Trinity Chapel, Cannon Street Road. We sat on

1833-36 APPOINTED HUNTERIAN PROFESSOR

95

each side of the organist in the organ loft, and it
was quite a treat to hear him.'

' 2%th. — Poor httle chimpanzee dead. R. went
to see the " opening scene " in Bruton Street ;
30 gentlemen at least present.'

In April, Owen was appointed Hunterian
Professor at the Royal College of 'Surgeons, To
the last days of his life he constantly referred to
the gratification which this appointment gave him.
A draft of the letter which he sent to the Council
accepting the chair has been preserved amongst
his papers, and the hope which he entertained in
his letter of May 3, 1832, now became a reality.

Coll. Surg. : April 30, 1836.

' Sir, — I had the honour to receive your letter
informing me of my election as Hunterian Professor
by the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons,
and I beg you will express to the Council my deep
sense of this additional mark of their favourable
sentiment towards me, and the entire willingness
with which I accept that highly responsible
charge.

' I cannot, nor shall I ever be willing to forget
how much I owe my present presumed eligibility
to illustrate by public lectures the labours of
Hunter, to the favourable position in which I am
placed in being entrusted by the Council of the
College with the partial charge of a collection,
originally most extensive, in preparations of Com-

96 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. in.

parative Anatomy, and since become unrivalled
through the care of a wise and liberal adminis-
tration.

' The subsequent confidence reposed in me by
the Council in reference to the preparation of the
descriptive catalogue of the Physiological Depart-
ment of the Collection confided to me demands
my warmest acknowledgments : their favourable
reception and approval of that work have always
formed my most grateful recompense, and have
given the strongest stimulus to increased exertions
towards its completion in a manner as nearly as
possible equal ' [the draft ceases here].

Mrs. Owen's diary then continues : —

'April 21. — Richard' went to the Hon. Ar-
tillery Co. for ball practice.'

' 2'?ith. — My Father and R. at the great Zoo
Meeting at the Adelaide Gallery to vote for the
new Council. A printed letter on the subject
came last night from the " malcontents." After
tea to the Royal Institution. Mr. Faraday on
manufacture of black-lead pencils.'

' May 4. — Richard off to a Zoo Council.
Back about 8.30. Then wrote to Lord Derby to

' Owen joined the H.A.C. Ground, on Thursday, April
in 1834. He was informed in lo, 1834, at 7 o'clock in the
April of that year that his ad- afternoon \jic\. The fees of
mission would be ' balloted for admission and the subscription
at a Court of Assistants of the to be paid at the time of ad-
said Company to be held at the mission are 6/. 6j.' He resigned
Armoury House, in the Artillery in July 1842.

1833-36 REFUSES VICE-PRESIDENTSHIP OF 'ZOO' 97

refuse the office of Vice-President which his lord-
ship had endeavoured to press upon him to-d^.
My Father staid very late to copy R.'s letter to
our President on the subject of future arrange-
ments for the museum, &c.'

' "jth. — The Trustees met here to-day. Sir
Astley Cooper offered to introduce R. to the
Duke of Somerset and a Bishop, and was much
surprised to find them old acquaintances. Coming
home from the Stanleys this evening, we were
lighted home by our watchman, to whom R. gave
some whisky, a tumblerful, which he swallowed
at one gulp. R. assured me there was nothing to
be uneasy about, as he was quite case-hardened.'

' '^th (Sunday). — R. went to church, but I got
up late, and went to the Zoo Gardens. The poor
lion lying in straw and almost dead. A new
kangaroo, which hops about on high places like
a great rat — the tail also somewhat similar in
appearance, and a light-coloured band round its
face like whiskers. R. joined me in the lion-room.
Lord Derby, in the crowd, shook his fist at R. for
refusing the Vice- Presidentship.'

' wth. — With R. to St. Bartholomew's to see
the prizes given. Mr. Paget,® as last year, was
the chief prize-taker.'

' \2th. — In the evening R. went to the Aber-
nethy Club dinner. He said he should have to
give adozen of champagne for having got married ! '

« Sir James Paget.
VOL. I. H

98 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. in.

' 15//2.— With R. to the Gardens. The poor
Ho*n had a board put up in front of his den to keep
him from being more annoyed than could be
helped by the visitors. The seal dead. The
Arctic puppies very amusing ; we fed them and
the mother with bones and bread.'

' \Zth. — Dr. Jacobson brought R. a diploma
from Berlin, making him a Fellow of the Royal
Scientific Academy of Prussia. It was made out
in March ,1836, and sent to R. by Dr. Lichten-
stein.'

'July 22 (Sunday). — To St. Dunstan's, and
then to the Gardens. The litde bear very comical
— most genteel and elegant in munching and clear-
ing out his orange. The lion still alive, and both
elephants out. We both came back as usual,
tired and delighted.'

' 2'^th. — A lovely bright morning ; up before
3 A.M. R. and I started at 4, and after waiting
about near the Gardens till about 5 saw the most
lovely procession imaginable. The four graceful,
bounding, playful giraffes, attended by M. Thie-
baut and four Africans in native costume. Two
policemen were there to clear the road, but in the
neighbourhood of the Gardens there was nothing
to clear except an early market cart or two. The
procession had walked from Blackwall — 8 miles
— and passed through Gloucester Gate to the
Gardens. When the giraffes got on to that part
of the road in which the trees are on both sides.

1833-36 ARTILLERY COMPANY'S PRACTICE

99

they could scarcely be held in by the attendants.
One animal got so excited that M. Thiebaut called
out, ' Laissez aller,' &c., and they allowed the
pretty creature to bite some of the young shoots
off the tree. They were delighted apparently to
get into the Gardens, and were soon safe and
unhaltered in the elephants' new house. One of
the attendants had his cheeks gashed for ornament
— three cuts on each side. We then visited the
sick lion — better, but not out of danger. The
giraffes had to have a light at night, as they would
not rest quietly without it. M. Thiebaut very
tired. He said he had not had his boots off for
two days. We stayed in the Gardens till 7, and
then went home to breakfast.'

' 2S^A. — R. and I at half-past i to the Ar-
tillery Ground. The Artillery Company went
on with their evolutions till half-past 5, and
must have been pretty well tired, especially those
who worked the big gun. Richard came to us in
his regimentals when it was all over, and we all
admired him for his soldier-like appearance. As
I walked home with my father by Chiswell and
Barbican, we met a crowd of men and boys run-
ning after, or by the side of, a large curly black
dog. I was just saying to my father, " I am sure
that dog is not mad," and was beginning to feel
indignant with the people for chasing it, when a
fire-engine came tearing after them loaded with
the firemen in helmets. My father then said that

100 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. hi.

it was the celebrated dog that attends nearly all
the fires in London. He does not attach himself,
it seems, to any particular body of firemen, but is
to be found sometimes with one company and
sometimes with another.

' R. came home soon after we did, and brought
his regimentals with him for me to clean the
silver braid.

'June 6. — This morning at 7 o'clock Dr.
Milne Edwards came by appointment to see R.,
and they both examined things by the micro-
scope till breakfast-time. Then young Scharf
brought the prints of the giraffes.

' In the evening Mr. Hills, the water-colour
painter, looked in and we had some music, and
did not get to bed till nearly four. R. told me
to-day the names of the new giraffes. The one
with a talisman round his neck is called Selim
(fortunate). The others are called Mabrouk
(favourite), Guib-allah (God's gift), and Zaida
(happy).'

'July 10. — My father and R. in at Mr.
Belfour's about the Secretaryship. As R. came
home sooner than I expected, we went off" as
usual to the Gardens. The elephant was most
ridiculous. One of the giraffes came out of the
house while the elephant was on that side of the
paddock and simply terrified the great coward by
stretching out his long neck to stare at him.
The elephant was so frightened he got into

1833-36 SOCIAL AMUSEMENTS loi

the water, which he generally cannot bear to
enter.'

' 2is^. — Engaged all day in drawing a wom-
bat's brain for R. When R. came in he said it
was all wrong, so I must do it all over again. R.
drew a rough sketch of it for me.'

' 22nd. — N.B. — " Mr. Owen " put up on our
door-plate to-day. Looks most imposing.'

' 26f^. — Finished the wombat's brain. R. not
quite satisfied. Wants another portion added to
it, so washed out part and left it to dry.'

' 28^?^. — Went to Westminster Abbey with
R., who was delighted with Purcell's music. As
R. had a few moments to spare, we took a look
round (for which we had to pay is. 6d. each).
R. was very amusing about a great tomb of fine
design and size, with a man in long robes and a
cap on it. It had an inscription over it to say
that Owen, son of Richard and Maria Owen, was
interred there. R. declared it must be an ancestor ! '

'August 9. — To Broadwood's to choose a
piano. R. tried one or two but did not decide
upon anything. They are to send word when
more are finished. Music in the evening. Over-
ture to " Don Giovanni " arranged as a quartette.
Got through it very well. A very late supper
and all " very merry," as Pepys would say.'

' October 23. — In the morning R. drew a
diagram of octopus. Afterwards to the Gardens.
The giraffes very well, and their new house

I02 PROFESSOR OWEN . CH. iii.

getting on. A new window in the squirrel-room
— a great improvement. It was put in at R.'s
suggestion.

' R. left me to superintend the drawing of a
new species of ourang-outang from Borneo. After
dinner he began an interesting paper on the
subject and finished it before he went to bed.
Only the skull has been preserved.'

We find from a letter from Lyell to Owen
at this time that the friendship which existed
between them had evidently only just begun.

Charles Lyell to Richard Owen

1 6 Hart Street : October 26, 1836.
' My dear Sir, — Mrs. Lyell and I expect a
few friends here on Saturday next, 29th, to an
early tea party at eight o'clock, and it will give
us great pleasure if you can join it.

' Among others you will meet Mr. Charles
Darwin, whom I believe you have seen, just
returned from South America, where he has
laboured for zoologists as well as for hammer-
bearers. I have also asked your friend Broderip.
' Yours faithfully,

' Charles Lyell.'

'November i. — R. translating from the Ger-
man all the evening. He made up his finished
paper on marsupial brains last night, and sent it
in this morning.'

1833-36 MEETS DARWIN AT LYELL'S 103

' dfth. — Before the Court of Examiners as-
sembled this evening, R. and I had a look at the
new rooms lighted up. The council-room looked
very well, except the doors and frames, which
were heavy and tasteless. The new chandelier
and the bronze lamps on the staircase and in the
hall very fine.'

' ^th. — R. came back in a hurry to dress for
dinner at Mr. Murchison's. Mr. Babbage and
Mr. Darwin there.'

'November 17. — Last night a kangaroo (dead)
came to R. from the Zoo. This morning he
dissected some entozoa from the kangaroo. By
ingeniously opening these thread-like worms, he
has succeeded in making some beautiful prepa-
rations, showing their almost invisible insides.
R. in the evening to Mr. Stanley's.'

' 27^?^. — R. read his introductory lecture to Mr.
Langshaw. They were such a time in the Great
Museum (two hours and half), for the lecture
proved too long for the time allowed, so it will
have to be cut down. It seems a great pity !

' In the evening we read " Hunterian " proofs
till a very late hour, nearly three.'

' 2J^tk. — R. received the rich present of
Cuvier's works, presented to him by the Cuvier
family. The collection of plates alone a valuable
gift. A most friendly and gratifying letter from
F. Cuvier, and also from G. F. Cuvier, his son.'

' December 3. — Bennett with R. in the museum

I04 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. in.

nearly all day looking over specimens ; he and R.
are at present so deeply interested in whales,
they can talk of nothing else. After dinner they
sat over their paper instead of their wine.'

' (jth. — This morning Mr. Gould brought
some coloured lithographs of birds' heads (New
South Wales), the work to be out directly. Our
pet tortoise keeps raising himself by the fore feet
on to the front of the fender, and uses every
possible exertion to get over it to be nearer the
fire. He ate a little of the cabbage-leaf to-day.
R. gave Dr. Farre a certificate of lecture attend-
ance. Read " Hunterian " proofs with R. till my
eyes ached.'

' \'^th. — Dr. Buckland called to-day, but R.
was in the library, with doors locked, and so
could not be reached, so Dr. B. left a box of
fossils.'

' 2<^th (Christmas Day). — R. and I went to
church in good time. A very pleasant evening,
with readings from " Boz," playing and singing.'

' 2.Zth. — I made two ink outlines of shark's
teeth, and to-night translated from the German
for R. ; after that I read aloud from Cuvier whilst
R. compared the editions. Wrapped up the
tortoise in flannel before I went to bed, and put
it in the front cellar.'

1837-38 LECTURES IN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS 105

CHAPTER IV*

1837-38

Hunterian Professor' and Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in
the College of Surgeons, 1837— His Courses of Lectures— Birth
of his Son, October 6, 1837 — the British Association at New-
castle, 1838— Visit to Germaftiy, 1838 — Death of his Mother,
November 1838.

On the retirement of Sir Charles Bell from the
Professorship of Anatomy and Physiology in the
College of SurgeonSj in the early part of 1837,
Owen was elected to the vacant chair. When the
Government purchased the Hunterian Museum
and transferred it to the College, a stipulation was
made that its contents should be illustrated by a
course of twenty-four lectures delivered annually.
This course had previously been divided between
the College Professors of Anatomy and Surgery,
each of whom devoted their twelve lectures to
some special subject in which they had attained
eminence, but which had no special reference to
the Hunterian Collections. These twenty-four
annual lectures Owen, as Hunterian Professor,
undertook to deliver, as illustrative of Hunter's
Collections, and without ever repeating the same

io6 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. IV.

subject continued to deliver them up to 1855.
He further adopted the practice of printing a
synopsis of each course, and a glance at a complete
series of these summaries gives us a means of es-
timating the extent of scientific information com-
municated by Owen to the students during his
Professorship.

In this year (1837) he also edited ' Hunter's
Animal Economy.' He sent a copy of this work
to Whewell, his old schoolfellow and fellow-towns-
man (who afterwards became the well-known
Master of Trinity), and received the following
reply : —

' I was much pleased to receive your letter
and to find that you are about to publish Hunter's

works I have always been afraid of

Physiology as a branch of my undertaking. I do
not see how I can avoid taking some notice of
it when I complete my Philosophy, for it is the
subject of the greatest promise and the deepest
interest of the whole of science ; but how I am to
arrange the principles of four great writers and
penetrate their true character I do not know.
The mere task of reading them is formid-
able. ..."

Whewell then adds this protest in a post-
script : —

' By the way, it is a great shame that you, an
old fellow-townsman, persist in making my name
more formidable than it really is by writing it

1837-38 RELINQUISHES MEDICAL PRACTICE 107

Whew hell. I have trouble enough with it at
best : so I hope you will not add to it a new alias!

Owen now began gradually to relinquish his
medical practice, in order to devote the whole of
his time to scientific research. Meanwhile, he
never neglected the opportunities which occurred
of dissecting the animals which died at the
Zoological Society's Gardens ; and these oppor-
tunities were naturally of frequent occurrence at
a time when the habits and mode of life of
the animals were but imperfectly understood.
Constant reference is made in the diaries to these
dissections. The carcases of such animals as
Owen could obtain from menageries and other
sources he not unfrequently dissected at home.
Those dying at the Zoological Gardens were dis-
sected there. On January 29 we read in his
wife's journal : —

' To-day Richard cut up the giraffe which died
at the Zoological Gardens. Afterwards he went
to the Royal Institution to dissect a snake.

' They have now got the skeleton of the hippo-
potamus up in the museum.'

The diary is continued : —

' February 3. — Dr. Buckland called early as
expected, and stayed some time looking at fossils.
I have been astonished in looking over the few I
have seen of the Hunterian fossils. The collection
is quite wonderful. R. told me that Mr. Hunter,
living at a time when geology was hardly known

io8 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. iv.

at all, had the numerous valuable specimens sent
to him as the only person generally known at the
time as at all interested in the subject. They are
now in the museum cubes, and it is the reopening
of the museum which has occasioned R. to bring
them out of their hiding-places. He thinks the
collection will considerably surprise the scientific
world when it is once more available. To-day
R. got the first volume of "Hunter" by Palmer.'^

' \th. — The museum in good order for the visit
of the Trustees. The fossils and shells which R,
has put in the flat cases have a very fine effect,
and the way in which he has contrived the sup-
ports in the side cases is quite successful. They
interfere as little as can be with the skeletons.
The Trustees greatly admired the arrangements.'

'March 22. — R. went out late to the
Geological Society ; a dismal, cold, and snowy
evening. He has been writing a paper on the
Toxodon, brought by Mr. Darwin, to be read
there, but not to-night.'

'April II. — Dr. A. Farre and Mr. Darwin
here this afternoon. After tea muscular fibre and
microscope in the drawing-room.'

' \<^th. — R. wrote the latter part of his third
lecture and read it to me. He received to-day
as a present from Agassiz his plates of fossil
fish.'

' The Works of John Hunter, by James F. Palmer. 2 vols.
8vo., London, 1835.

1837-38 FIRST HUNTERIAN LECTURE 109

'May I. — The day before R.'s first lecture 1^
At 10 P.M. he read it over to me, and it lasted till
11.30. — too long.'

'May 2. — So busy all the morning, had
hardly time to be nervous, luckily for me. R.
robed in the drawing-room and took some &gg
and wine before going into the theatre. He then
went in and left me. At 5 o'clock a great noise
of clapping made me jump, for I timed the lec-
ture to last a quarter of an hour longer, but R. , it
seems, cut it short rather than tire Sir Astley
Cooper too much. All went off as well as even
I could wish. The theatre crammed, and there
were many who could not get places. R. was
more collected than he or I ever supposed, and
gave this awful first lecture almost to his own
satisfaction ! We sat down a large party to dinner.
Mr. Langshaw and R. afterwards played two of
Corelli's sonatas.'

' May 4. — R. up till two this morning writing.
But he has done capitally, for his first lecture is
now, as I earnestly begged him to do, spread into
the second, and with a little addition forms a most
interesting one, particularly to those whose reading
has not extended very far — even to the learned,
they cannot but fail to excite attention. R. read
to me what he had left out of the first lecture with
last night's additions. But as this did not fill up

2 The subject of this course pical structure and nature of the
of lectures was the microsco- teeth.

no PROFESSOR OWEN CH. iv.

an hour, he wrote some more, and the whole
makes a good lecture.'

'May II. — R.'s second lecture. He ran up
to the drawing-room with his gown on before
lecture, while looking over his paper. R. called
away after lecture to see Sir Astley Cooper, who
was in the museum, and who came to talk about
the lectures. He expressed himself as being
delighted with them, but said he thought a few
diagrams would look well.'

'May 1 6. — R.'s third lecture. The first given
entirely without notes. He made a little apology
on that score, and in consequence had two rounds
of applause — which he was sorry for ; but I think
he did right, being so young a lecturer and look-
ing so much younger than he really is. It could
hardly be put down to the affectation of modesty
in an experienced lecturer, sure of his own powers
and of the admiration of the audience. I went
with my mother and father to look at the diagrams
in the theatre afterwards.'

As soon as his third lecture had been delivered
Owen sat down to write to his mother. After
telling her that the audience had increased rather
than diminished since his first lecture, ' which,' he
says, ' I take to be a fair guarantee of my having
so far afforded satisfaction to the College in my
new capacity,' he continues : ' The President (Sir
A. Cooper) has done me the honour to attend each
day, and has taken notes ; but that I take to be

1837-38 DR. BUCKLAND AT THE LECTURES 11 1

an act of his good-nature, and meant as an
encouragment to the young beginner. It is a
formal, and therefore somewhat awful affair, our
lecture. First, the members and students as-
semble in the gallery and body of the theatre ;
then, as the clock strikes four, the honorary
visitors who have previously congregated with the
council in the council-room are ushered down,
the President, in his robes, being preceded by the
mace, which is reverently deposited on the lec-
ture-table by the beadle, when, lastly, walks in the
Professor, and then, when the clock strikes five,
your obedient and affectionate son makes his bow
and exit, with a much lighter heart than when he
entered.

' I am truly thankful for the health and strength
which has thus far supported me through a severe
trial. My colleague, an old experienced lecturer,
found it so ; and most have acknowledged the
same. I trust to complete the course, which lasts
till the end of June, without greatly disappointing
the expectations of those who have (earlier than
I would have myself wished it) placed me in this
sphere.

' Pearson Langshaw was, I believe, the only
townsman who witnessed my ddbut. . . .'

Dr. Buckland was a constant attendant at these
lectures. ' While he is at R.'s lecture,' Mrs. Owen
writes, ' Mrs. Buckland comes in to talk with me.'

The excitement of these lectures used to have

112 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. iv.

a corresponding reaction upon Owen, for he was
at first much more nervous than he appeared to
be. After one of his early lectures (May 30) his
wife writes : ' R. very queer on coming back from
lecture ; if he is not better by next lecture I shall
try and get it postponed.' On June 8 she says :
' R. was scarcely well enough to lecture to-day
owing to a chill which he got last time by stand-
ing in the theatre after his lecture. He gets
very hot while he is speaking, and then is upset
by the after-chill.' However, as Owen became
more accustomed to lecturing, his nervousness to
a great extent wore off. Soon afterwards Lyell
wrote to congratulate him upon his delivery,
saying that his voice was so clear and distinct that
he could be plainly heard without effort by every-
one in the room. ' I always picked out the person
whom I saw was in the worst place in the room
for hearing,' Owen used to say, ' and then I talked
at him.'

On June 9 an account is given in the diary of
one of Faraday's lectures : ' To the Royal Insti-
tution to hear Faraday lecture. Went with my
father, as R. was not well enough to go. In the
ante-room I had some conversation with Mr. F.,
who said this lecture was the last of his course for
the season. It was chiefly on arrows and weapons.
Faraday showed us the various flints used in dif-
ferent times and different countries for arrow-heads,
knives, &c. It was most interesting and amusing,

1837-38 FESTIVE EVENING AT LORD COLE'S 113

and of course well delivered. Mr. F. shot or
rather blew several small arrows through tubes — ■
and with good aim — at a band-box with a centre
mark. The place full, but the heat and draught
dreadful.'

'June 14. — R. to the Geological Society. It
was his introduction as Fellow, and after a very-
interesting evening with Buckland, Whewell,
Sedgwick, Murchison, de la Beche, Stokes, &c.,
they all adjourned to Lord Cole's to supper.
After supper they proceeded to play "high jinks,"
as immortalised by Sir Walter Scott in " Rob Roy."
Mr. Stokes took the chair as King, and was ex-
cellent as the arbitrary monarch. Lord Cole
could not sing when called upon, nor could his
brother, who was " Boots." R. had to sing first,
as youngest there, and sang " A Fig for St. Denis
of France." The so-called salt and water filled
two quart pots. All kind of scientific discourse
was prohibited on pain of forfeit, and geological
expressions on pain of fighting the champion
(Lord Cole's brother) with hammers. Every word
or sentence which could be so construed was seized
upon. It having turned out that the report of
the good King's death was false, his health was
warmly drunk.'

'June 19. — At dinner a messenger came to
tell R. that he was elected as Fullerian Professor
of Compara:tive Anatomy and Physiology to the
Royal Institution. His diploma came as well aS

VOL. I. I

114 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. iv.

the official letter. R. intends to see Sir Benjamin
Brodie to-morrow before sending his acknowledg-
ment'

This Professorship Owen was obliged to
decline, as the Council of the College of Surgeons
required him to finish his Catalogue before accept-
ing any other office. On June 29 he writes to
the ' Managers of the Royal Institution of Great
Britain' in these terms : —

' I should have immediately acknowledged,
with becoming respect, the most gratifying and
honourable mark of your esteem in the appoint-
ment which you have been pleased to confer upon
me, of the FuUerian Professorship of Physiology
at the Royal Institution, had not a paramount
engagement in relation to an important work —
the Catalogue of the Hunterian Collection, com-
pelled me to defer my communication until I was
made aware of the decision of the Council of the
College of Surgeons ; which, I regret to say,
obliges me to forego, until the completion of that
work, the acceptance of any other office than that
I now hold at the College of Surgeons.'

Towards the end of July 1837, Owen paid
a visit to Lancaster, chiefly in order to see his
mother. After arriving at his birthplace he wrote
a long letter to his wife, descriptive of his journey
and of the pleasure he experienced in revisiting
his native town. He also gives us a pleasant
glimpse of the characteristic way in which he

1837-38 LETTER FROM LANCASTER 115

entered into the researches of younger men In the
following passage : ' We were soon joined by
Edward Mason. ..... The poor lad hobbled

up to us on the parade with great glee. He was
anxious to have my opinion whether the pink and
the smelt were both the same ^sh, as Colonel
Parker and Sergeant Bond both maintained — the
pink being the salmon of the first year, the smelt
of the second. Now, Edward had caught a pink
with roe in it, and he believes it to be the parr of
Yarrell (see that fish in my copy). Edward is to
catch specimens of each, and we shall have a
glorious evening at the Lancaster Branch of the
Grand Junction Philosophical Society of Natural
History. If we don't beat the military men, or
if we leave them a single leg to stand on, poor
Edward's crutches will have wheeled most ener-
getically to the Crook of Lune for nothing.'

Owen refers in the same letter to his connec-
tion with the Honourable Artillery Company, for
he tells his wife to ' let Mr. Cooper have my cap
for a pattern. He will also ask for my coat,
which please to let him have for his tailor.'

On the 29th he writes to his wife in answer to
a letter from her announcing an interesting addi-
tion which was shortly to occur in their household.
In this letter he refers thus to his mother : —

' My dear mother too I have evidently seen

for the last time that she could derive pleasure

from my visit. Her mind, though shaken, is still

I 2

ii6 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. iv.

good — better than her body I fear, if she

survives — as she prays — to see us both again
with the little pledge of affection which reconciles
age to the irremediable lot, that the apathy of
decay may blunt much of the pleasure which she
has derived from my present visit.'

In another letter from Lancaster written to
his wife he makes the following somewhat
flippant remarks relative to a request sent from
the Trustees of the College of Surgeons that he
should send them as soon as possible a report
concerning his work of the past year : — •

' What's the use of trying to collect one's ideas
for a report to the Trustees ? " One thousand and
three moths killed by tobacco-smoke and directions
of the Board of Curators. Complaint of some of the
sorrowing relatives of said moths that returns was
used instead of canaster (such infra digs, would
never have taken place in good old Sir William's
time, the moths — though they be moths — having
been bred and born in the Royal College of
Surgeons)." Secondly, " All old corners and out-
of-the-way archives diligently and carefully looked
through, and the letters out o' date, old catalogues,
and other documents, left where they were found."
Thirdly, Mr. O. has minutely and casually looked
(without spectacles) at all the uncatalogued speci-
mens in spirit, and feels much out of spirits him-
self when he thinks of the same. Fourthly, that
Mrs. C[lift] closed the due proportion of her

1837-38 CORRESPONDENCE WITH SIR G. GREY 117

windows after the demise of his late most gracious
Majesty and Patron of the College, and also wore
mourning no less becoming to herself than to the
melancholy occasion. Fifthly, Mrs. O.'s kitchen
chimney still smokes, contrary to the directions
oT the late Chairman of the Board and the wishes
of the Trustees. I cannot get on ; it's no use ....
And my pen is most obstinate ; and what exceeds
the perversity of a steel pen .? '

He returned to the College of Surgeons early
in August. From a friendly letter which he
received at this time from (Sir) George Grey,
written from Teneriffe, he hears that the skull of
a guancho (an aboriginal of the Canary Islands)
will be sent to him in due course for his museum
at the College of Surgeons. Owen's correspon-
dence with Grey was intermittent ; but the latter
was apparently always on the look-out for speci-
mens, and nearly every letter from him contains
the mention of something he was sending.

At the beginning of September Owen was
made a member of the Imperial Academy of
Sciences at Moscow.

Amongst other notices in the journal relative
to his occupation and amusements during this
month may be mentioned the following : —

' Went to hear Mendelssohn's " St. Paul " at
the Exeter Hall. The Birmingham people will
not allow him to conduct personally. The crowd
was enormous, but we got good seats in the

ii8 PROFESSOR OWEN ' CH. iv.

gallery, and saw that it would have been useless
to have sought for seats below. A Mr. Bennet,
who is a friend of Mendelssohn's, and who is only
just turned twenty, sang magnificently. Mendels-
sohn came to the gallery at the end of Part I.
He was immediately recognised by the audience,
which stood and shouted. He is young, dark,
and quiet.'

On October 6, Professor Owen writes in his
wife's diary : —

' At a quarter-past nine William Owen was
born.'

The next day there is the entry : — ' Papa's
joy a little damped by excruciating toothache.
Mother and child as well as possible.'

About a month afterwards Mrs. Owen begins
the diary again.

' November 9. — R. started according to order
before 11 a.m. to form a guard to Her Majesty at
Guildhall, as a member of the H.A.C

'December 17. — Was in the drawing-room
with the baby when the servant let two French
gentlemen in. I told them Mr. Owen would be
in directly, and one of them — a rather corpulent,
nice-looking man who spoke excellent English —
played a long time with baby, and said he had
seven of them. R. then came in, and formally
introduced us. It was Prince Charles Lucien
Bonaparte, nephew to the Bonaparte. They all
went to the Museum, and when they came back

1837-38 ACCOUNT OF THE TOXODON 119

R. discussed with the Prince the paper His High-
ness wrote for the Royal Society, and which R.
has had to judge. The Prince departed in high
good-humour.'

In 1838 Owen wrote a paper, which was the
nucleus of his great work on teeth — the ' Odonto-
graphy.' This paper was entitled : ' On the
Structure of Teeth, and the Resemblance of
Ivory to Bone, as illustrated by the Microscopical
Examination of the Teeth of Men and of various
Existing and Extinct Animals.' (' Report of the
British xA.ssociation, 1838.')

Amongst the descriptions which Owen made
of the fossil mammalia collected by Darwin in
the voyage of the ' Beagle ' may be mentioned that
of the Toxodon skull. The toxodon was a gigantic
extinct mammal, presenting great peculiarities
and having points in common with various orders
of Mammalia.

The following account of the toxodon in the
autograph of Charles Darwin was found amongst
Owen's papers, from which an extract is now
given : —

' The head was found embedded in whitish
earthy clay on the banks of a small stream which
enters the Rio Negro, and is situated 120 miles
to the N.W. of Monte Video. The head had
been kept for a short time in a neighbouring
farm-house as a curiosity, but when I arrived it
was lying in the yard. I bought it for the value

I20 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. iv.

of eighteen-pence.^ The people informed me that
when first discovered, about two years previously,
it was quite perfect, but that the boys had since
knocked out the teeth and had put it on a post as
a mark to throw stones at. They showed me the
spot where it had been found after a sudden flood
had washed down part of the bank. Several
fragments of bone and of an armadillo-like case
were lying at the bottom of the almost dry water-
course. Some of these I collected, but from the
disturbed state of the country the box in which
they were packed was delayed on the road, and
was afterwards sent direct to England.

' For this reason the temporary marks by which
I had distinguished these bones from another set,
found at the distance of several leagues, were lost,
and I am now unable to say which are the frag-
ments This river (Rio Cancarafia) has

been celebrated since the time of the Jesuit
Falkner for the number of great bones and large
fragments of the armadillo-like case found in its
bed. The inhabitants told me that they had
made gate-posts of some leg bones, and I myself
saw two groups in situ of the remains of a mas-
todon projecting from a cliff. But they were in
so decayed a state that I could only bring away
small portions of a molar tooth.'

From the same collection Owen described the

^ This skull would probably entire skeleton is figured in
now fetch many pounds. An Natural Science, i?,!:)/^, ^. iig.

1837-38 DISSECTING A RHINOCEROS 121

remains of an extinct animal related to the llama.
He also described the scelidotherium, which is
related to the ant-eaters ; and further determined
some disputed points in existing accounts of the
skeleton of the megatherium — a gigantic extinct
sloth about the size of an elephant. We also find
from the Diary that Darwin submitted the proofs
of the ' Voyage ' itself to Owen.

But while occupied in describing fossil remains
he varied his occupation by dissecting the mortal
remains of a rhinoceros which had recently died
at Wombwell's Menagerie. This he looked upon
as a great prize, as a rhinoceros then — dead or
living — was a rarity in England. On February i,
Owen had the carcase brought to his house in the
College of Surgeons, to his wife's disgust, who
thus comments upon it : — ' The defunct rhinoceros
(late of Wombwell's Menagerie) arrived while R.
was out. I told the men to take it right to the end
of the long passage, where it now lies. As yet I

feel indifferent, but when the pie is opened '

' February 6. — R. still at the rhinoceros.'
In February the ' Wollaston ' Gold Medal of
the Geological Society was awarded to Owen,
and he thus remarks on it in a letter to his sister
Eliza (February 28) : ' My first number of Dar-
win's " Fossils " (strange animals) is out, and most
unexpectedly the Geological Society has awarded
me the Wollaston Gold Medal for that and other
services to geology. Is it not curious that

122 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. iv.

Whewell should' happeh to be in the chair this
year ? He presented it to me in full conclave
with a very handsome speech, to which I made
the best acknowledgments I could. At the
anniversary dinner, which I attended the same
day, Whewell, when he proposed my health,
alluded to me very feelingly as a fellow-townsman
and old schoolfellow. After the dinner I adjourned
to Lord Cole's and finished in the usual manner a
happy day, but poor Mr. Stokes was sadly missed.
He was too ill to come.' The diary then relates
that ' the next day Lord Cole and Sir Philip de
Grey Egerton dropped in and were much amused
to find Richard with the baby on his knees, trying
to feed him surreptitiously out of a bottle.'

'March ii. — To-day the Duchess of Cam-
bridge, with her son arid daughter, came into the
giraffe house while we were there. The ourang-
outang was brought to the Duchess, as there was
such a crowd round his cage. He is by no means
so interesting as poor Tommy, the chimpanzeie.
The great disproportion between his hind legs
and fore, the heaviness of his movements, and his
small eyes take much from the painfully humanlike
expression which poor Tommy had. When we got
home R. insisted upon having the legs of a fowl
which we had for dinner, to examine the muscles.'

'March 23. — To-day sections of teeth exa-
mined under the microscope. Mr. White Cooper
here. He is making full notes of R.'s lectures.'

1837-38 ACTORS' BENEVOLENT FUND DINNER 123

' March 26. — To Mr. Cross's Gardens with R.
to see an immense fire-balloon go up with three
people. The gardens were full, but the balloon
would not rise. The people did, though, and
behaved shamefully : they beat Mr. Cross and
his nephew, Mr. Tyler, and pulled things all to
pieces.'

Throughout the May and June of this year
Owen continued to give his Hunterian Lectures,
chiefly descriptive of the Hunterian Collection,
It is noticeable that, occupied as he was by his
lectures and various scientific investigations, he still
found time to interest himself with other matters
often completely outside his own particular line.
As an instance out of many given in the diaries,
we find that in June he helped to promote an
' Actors' Benevolent Fund,' attending a meeting
and dinner given by actors for some charitable
purpose connected with their profession. After
speaking, in company with such men as Sheridan
Knowles, Charles Kean, and Mr. Harley, an
amusing incident occurred. ' A member of the
Zoological Council,' says Mrs. Owen, ' sat oppo-
site Richard, and happened to ask him what day
Lord Derby's dinner was, for all the Society's
Council were invited to it. Lord Glengall, who
was in the chair, heard the question, and, pointing
to R., asked in a stage whisper : " Who's that } "
The reply was : " Oh, nobody in particular — only
the first anatomist of the age ! "

124 PROFESSOR. OWEN CH. iv.

'June 13. — R. engaged on the apteryx. In
the evening he went to the dinner given to Sir
John Herschell on his return from the Cape.'

"■June .16. — To-day one of the giraffes lifted
to his own height a peacock in full spread, and,
after giving the bird a shake, which left a
mouthful of long tail-feathers in his mouth, let
him drop, and the peacock ran off with his train
shut up in a great fright. The giraffe lifted him
by seizing some of the middle feathers (where the
Argus eyes are) as the peacock was proudly dis-
playing them, and then began chewing them with
much satisfaction. The keeper gave him a
whipping for his trouble. The peacocks were in
the same enclosure as the giraffe. R.'s eyes
are beginning to suffer from over-use. As
he could not read or write this evening, we
went to Seguin's benefit. Handel's " Acis and
Galatea." '

'June 29. — R.'s last lecture (Hunterian).'

In the early part of August Owen attended
the meeting of the British Association at New-
castle, travelling from London by sea. He writes
to his wife from Gateshead Rectory, where he
was the guest of the rector, Mr. Douglas. ' The
" Ocean " arrived with her cargo of philosophy,
and, I ought to add, literature, for Harriet
Martineau was on board. See other side ' (a
sketch which represents that lady holding up a
huge ear-trumpet).

1837-38 GOES TO GERMANY 125

After being present at the meeting of the
British Association, Owen went to Germany for
the purpose of attending the ' Meeting of German
Naturalists,' and of examining the various mu-
seums within reach of his tour. He writes to his
wife to say that he has determined to go first to
Holland vi& Hull, and will therefore not return to
London. On the same sheet he sends a letter to
Clift, in which he says : ' Procure me at Coutts' or
Hammersleys' two circular bills which are payable
on demand at any of the bankers in any of the
towns I visit near the Rhine or in Holland. Will
you give them to Cooper* to deliver to me at
Rotterdam along with my carpet bag. . . .By
the way, they made a secretary of me at one
committee [medical], and I shall be truly glad to
get into Holland, where pipes are smoked in
peace. All proofs must remain till I come back,
which will be at the end of September, when I
hope we shall keep little Willie's first birthday in
happy reunion.'

Owen reached Rotterdam on August 31, 1838,
and we find him writing to his wife from the
' Kleine Skippershaus ' as follows : ' Dr. Richard-
son ^ informed me that the reading of my report
on the Marsupialia was fixed for the morning I
started, and showed me the announcement. I had
totally forgotten it, hadn't had time to pen a line,
but many had come expressly to hear it, so I begged

* William White Cooper. '" Dr. John Richardson.

126 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. IV.

ten minutes and retired to the committee-room,
and then returned and gave a viva voce account of
the matter about an hour and a half long. Mrs.
Buckland and lots of ladies, mostly Quakeresses,
were there, and I modified the reproductive part of
the history as delicately as possible. The Stones-
field opossum and Dr. Buckland were not for-
gotten.' He then relates how he visited Ravens-
worth, where they breakfasted at three. ' After
breakfast dancing commenced, which was sus-
tained both by the fair and the philosophers in full
vigour till six, when we drove off' [to Durham to
Dr. Gilly's]. ' Dr. Buckland marked out my tour,
and we agreed to meet at Freiburg, where the
German naturalists assemble.' Passing next to
York, Owen visited the Minster and the Museum,
and at 7 p.m. the same day he took the mail to
Hull. The rest of the letter is occupied with
an account of his sea-passage, which apparently
caused him little if any discomfort, and he is left
awaiting at Rotterdam the arrival of his friend
Cooper.

His next communication to his wife is dated
Plaats Royaal, Leyden, September 4, 1838, and
runs as follows : —

' I cannot doubt but that you will already have
received the notice of my safe arrival at Rotter-
dam, which I sent in the only cross letter I ever
wrote, so far as I remember, in my life ; but
learning that the post for London leaves Leyden

1837-38 LETTER FROM LEYDEN 127

only twice in the week, and that to-night is one
of the nights, I cannot let the opportunity pass.
You will naturally have some difficulty in de-
ciphering this epistle, for, having lived in the
Dutchest houses and Dutch styles, and been
further exposed to a Dutch fog in a Dutch trek-
schuit on a Dutch canal, the webs that began to
develop themselves between my toes on the
second night at Rotterdam have, in spite of
tobacco and schiedam, made their appearance,
and are spreading fast in the digital interspaces,
and I can hardly doubt but that in a sufficiently
extended residence I should be converted into as
amphibious a mammifer as any in His Nether-
landisch Majesty's dominions. They say the pal-
mipedous character is lost as you proceed up the
Rhine, so that I have hopes of returning in a recog-
nisable state even to my dear little darling Willie,
whose good health and progress it did my heart
good to read of I spent a glorious morning in the
museum, at the Hague. There they have Savery's
real " Orpheus and the Beasts," but, believe me,
nothing to compare with ours. I saw four pic-
tures by the same master as your father's. His
style is inimitable, and is more recognisable, be-
cause more depending on touch, or the mechani-
cal working of the picture, than any other quality,
except truth and nature in the individual object.
It is by Breughel de Velours, so called on account
of his smooth finish, and to distinguish him from

128 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. iv.

Br. d'Enfer, whose picture of " Christ Delivering
the Souls out of Purgatory " is in the same collec-
tion. There is the same light falling on the upper
branches — an effect which I saw in the beautiful
park of the Palace at the Hague— the same
exquisite little goldfinches, not a bit better than
in ours, perching on the branches in the picture
of Paradise, in which the Adam and Eve are by-
Rubens. In another of Breughel's the foreground
is separated from the background by the same
oblique hard hedge, and the distance has the same
kind of city and canal in the same clear, cold,
grey-blue tint. I was delighted to have so many
confirmations of the value of our gem. I was
told, however, that good prices, as loo/. to 500/.,
were only given for joint pictures, in which the
figures and composition were by another master ;
and that Breughel, when left to himself, as in most
of his pictures and ours, failed from his want of
taste in grouping and effect. There are only two,
not joint-pictures, of his in the gallery. . , . What
do you think I espied in a dark corner ? Why, a
DODO — a dodo in full plumage. Note that he
(the artist or the dodo, which you please) lived
between 1576 and 1639. He was contemporary
with the man whom Natural History describes as
having brought the stuffed dodo from Mauritius.
The nostrils are very far forwards, as in the
apteryx, and the feet very similar in the relative
position and size of the toes. I took a sketch ;

1837-38 LETTER FROM UTRECHT 129

the head precisely resembles that of the Oxford
Museum specimen. . . . For all the Dutch
peculiarities I see reason, the more I observe the
conditions under which these worthy people exist.
A sale or fade depressing odour pervades the
country, at least, at this season, arising from the
stagnation of the canals ; and when the heat of the
day no longer serves to retain in suspension the
vapours of the canals and swamps, the foggy and
chilly atmosphere at once explains the utility of a
warm dry whiff of baccy ; the extra quantity of
moisture inhaled equally demands the counter-
action of a dram. A great proportion of the
working people have the trunk bent like a quad-
ruped at right angles to the legs, in the universal
occupation of pushing along the innumerable
boats of all shapes and sizes which cover the
canals, by means of long poles pressed against
from the breast and shoulder by the whole weight
of the body and working of the hind-legs. . . .
This morning I have visited Temminck, Professor
v. d. Hoeven, and the museum ; dictated several
notes to Cooper, who scribes capitally.'

Owen gave his address at Cologne, and in his
next letter, dated Utrecht, September 10, 1838,
continues the story of his travels : ' Here
[Amsterdam] are several of the Dutch painters'
chefs-d'ceuvre — Dow, Wouvermans, Rembrandt,
&c,, &c., but I have a Catalogue with notes and
marks to comment and descant on some fireside

VOL. I. K

I30 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. iv.

evenings at home. . . . My last letter was dated
Leyden. After examining the collections and
noting the interesting objects contained in them
(contemplating the gigantic salamander living in
his tub of little fishes, on which he has grown
fat, and is now 3 ft. 3 in. long, examining the
portraits of the Professors of the University,
among whom Salmasius, Albinus, Boerhaave, &c.,
promenading round the Botanic Garden with old
Professor Reinwardt), we set off one fine morning
for Utrecht.' Here follows an account of his
visit to Dr. Suerman and Van der Capella, and
of a tea he had with the Suerman family, and
concludes : ' After tea the Professors of the
University arrived to pipes, coffee, and hock, and
a long night was made of it, in which my wits
were kept at full stretch. Made my first essay in
conversing in German ; not so difficult after a
while. . . . Kind remembrances and thanks [to
Clift] for his experienced hints to Mr. Hills ;^ he
beats many of the Dutch still at the beasts.'

On September 20, 1838, he wrote again to
his wife from Freiburg im Breisgau : ' To-day
about four hundred sat down to the table d'Mte of
the Association. I was between Mrs. Buckland
and the Prince of Musignano,'' and England and
home came again very near and warm to my

" Robert Hills, Secretary to ' Charles Lucien Bonaparte,

the Royal Institute of Painters Prince of Musignano and of
in Water Colours. Canino.

1837-38 GROSZ HERZOG'S DINNER 131

recollection after my long and somewhat fatiguing
journey. Many were the kind inquiries after
yourself and our little one. Dr. and Madame
Eschricht not far off, and Dr. Henle in sight.
Dr. Buckland had Cooper next him at another
table. Agassiz divided Mrs. Buckland from her

friend Mrs. of Oxford. ... You will see

already one of the peculiarities of the German
meeting as distinguished from the English — wives
and sisters mingling in social happiness at the
festive board. They are not, however, admitted,
as at Newcastle, to the scientific discussions of
the morning. . . . My day's work has been as
follows : Rose at six, breakfasted at half-past, and
joined the Anatomical and Zoological Section at
seven. Papers and communications in German
and French. My reception has been most gra-
tifying and flattering : I was assigned the seat of
honour on the right hand of the President. At
eleven adjourned with Prince Lucien to his hotel
to look over some zoological objects : he has
pressed a warm invitation for us to visit him at
Rome when our little boy is big enough to run
about and play with his own children. We then
went to the Geological Section. At half-past
twelve adjourned to the museum, and received
our ticket for the grand dinner given by the Grosz
Herzog to the assembly at a beautiful country
palace some miles from hence.'

With regard to the dinner given by the Grosz

132 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. iv.

Herzog, Owen relates the following amusing
story : —

' The Associates were notified that on entering
their names at the Town Hall, vehicles would be
provided for the journey — about eight English
miles from Freiburg — in the order of booking.
Professor Eschricht had brought his newly married
bride to the meeting, and I was accompanied by
my friend, Mr. White Cooper. We entered our
names as a party of four for one of the carriages,
and were enjoined by the official at the Town Hall
to present ourselves there not later than 6 a.m.
The day opened brightly, and .we were led to
seats in the Council Chamber and instructed to
remain till our names were called.

' The rattle of wheels over the rough pave-
ment of the " Place " began soon after our arrival,
and continued uninterruptedly. Name after name
was called ; party after party descended and drove
off". Both Eschricht and I kept our ears open,
and, unwilling to add to the difficulties which
beset the officials of the Town Council, caused by
impatient inquiries and demands for carriages,
we sat silent till seven o'clock arrived ; the sound
of departing wheels had then begun to slacken,
and soon after to cease. Then Eschricht, as a
better master of German than myself, went to
one of the officials who was standing near the
door, and observed that our determination to
obey the official directions and to wait in silence

1837-38 NO VEHICLE FORTHCOMING 133

till our names were called, had apparently caused
our loss of the carriage which had been booked
in our name.

' The worthy Burgomaster's countenance fell ;
he raised his hands in deprecatory fashion, and
declared it was all the fault of those " Fran-
zosische ; " that they had violently appropriated to
themselves vehicles in waiting in the Square, and
that the order of "call" had been compulsorily
suspended ; that every wheeled vehicle which
Freiburg and its vicinity could contribute to the
excursion was now occupied and on its way to
Baden- Weiler. Outside the portal was a gentle-
man on horseback, mopping his face in the hot
sunshine ; he had acted officially in guiding the
parties and starting their respective vehicles.
This duty was 'appropriately volunteered and
discharged, under unlooked-for difficulties, by the
Professor of Obstetrics of the Freiburg Uni-
versity.

' My friend mildly remarked that the con-
sequence of our proper behaviour was more es-
pecially to be regretted, since his friend and him-
self were professors who had travelled from the
greatest distances to attend the meeting — Pro-
fessor O, from Newcastle, North of England, and
himself from Copenhagen.

' Then ensued an animated discussion between
the Freiburg Professor and the Burgomaster,
which issued in the Professor putting spurs to his

134

PROFESSOR OWEN ch. iv.

horse and galloping off. Whereupon we were
confidentially informed that the only individual
possessing a carriage in Freiburg who had re-
refused to contribute it to the day's excursion
was his Eminence the Prince Archbishop.
Some time having elapsed in dismal silence,
we concluded that we had lost our intended
excursion, and grieved more especially for
the fair bride's disappointment. It was getting
near eight o'clock, when we suddenly heard the
clatter of hoofs and the sound of carriage wheels,
and there drew up at the Town Hall a grand
capacious coach, with four fine long-tailed black
horses, a corpulent coachman in purple livery,
and, hanging on behind, a footman in the same,
and a chasseur in green and gold !

' The two latter descended ; one threw open
the coach door, the other rattled down the steps,
and in we went as directed. I thought Madame
Eschricht would have vanished in the depth of
the purple cushion on which she sank! No
sooner were we all seated than the steps were put
up, the door banged to, clack went the coach-
man's whip, and we were rattling over the town
pavement in a style that brought all the remaining
residents, as it seemed, to be spectators.

' Now the solution of this unexpected phe-
nomenon, as the cavalier Professor afterwards
explained to me, was as follows :-—

' Deeply impressed by the disgrace which he

1837-38 THE ARCHBISHOPS CARRIAGE 135

felt must fall on the authorities of the "meeting,"
he determined to make a personal appeal to the
Prince Archbishop. His Eminence was in bed,
but the urgent Professor was admitted, and set
forth in glowing terms the merits of the two
deserted scientists, the distant lands from which
they had travelled, the estimatioA in which they
were held by the " Association," and especially the
exemplary obedience to directions, which had led
to the disappointment caused by ruder — especially
French — visitors.

' The Archbishop turned on his pillow, and
in choice ecclesiastical Latin pronounced, "Then
the last shall be first, and the first last," and gave
his orders to the attendant chaplain accordingly.
The archiepiscopal coach being horsed and
manned, the Professor, rejoicing, returned with it
to the Town Hall.

' As we set off in full trot we soon came upon
the hindmost of the various vehicles which were
toiling up the hill. The Archbishop's .coachman
■bawled -imperatively, and the hindmost wheeled
concern pulled abruptly to the roadside ; I thought
they would have gone over into the ditch. Their
example was followed by the rest, and at leijgth we
came to a handsome barouche in which gat Oken,
Dr. and Mrs, Buckland, and a titled Austrian.
As we dashed past, I could not resist grinning
at Dr. Buckland, and bowing out of the window
to Mrs. Buckland, who stared in amazement.

136 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. iv.

' No sooner had we headed the procession than
the dignified coachman reined in his steeds and
proceeded in jog-trot pace, giving all behind the
benefit of the dust. In due time we entered the
grounds of a Badenese baron, whom the Grand
Duke had deputed to discharge his hospitalities
to the scientific Associates.

' As we came in view of the Chateau I saw
ranged in a row, on each side of the approach, the
gamekeepers, or Rangers, which, in their best
liveries, reminded me of the singers of the hunts-
man's chorus in " Der Freischiitz." Our noble
host was, in fact, the Grand Duke's grand hunts-
man ; he stood at the entry, and as our coach
drew up at the handsome flight of steps, came
down, offered one arm to Madame Eschricht, and
led her into the hall. We followed, and graci-
ously received a complimentary welcome, to which
Eschricht, perfect in German, replied with dig-
nified politeness. Cooper was introduced as my
secretary.

'We had agreed, en route, to accept whatever
interpretation as to our rank might be made, in
connection with the exalted character of our
cortege.

' Mrs. Buckland, greatly, struck with the
beauty, grace, and attire of the bride, took re-
peated opportunities to pluck me by the sleeve
and ask. Who is that lady to whom the baron is
paying such attention ? What is the title of heir

J837-38 A BARONIAL FEAST . 137

husband? How did you come to be brought
with them in the Archbishop's coach ? We were
told his Eminence had. positively refused its use
to the Association, &c., &c.

' However, the visitors were rapidly crowding
in, and forming their parties for the stroll to the
Roman ruins of the Baths, so I warded off the
impatient inquiries by "I'll tell you all about
her when we return."

' After some hours' strolling to all the favourite
points of view, we returned to the grand hunts-
man's baronial castle. Hospitable tables were
spread in the great hall ; the host, singling out
Madame Eschricht, seated her on his right hand,
and, as I had led her into the hall, he would: have
placed me on his left ; but I brought forward and
introduced the President, and Oken was followed
by Eschricht, Buckland, Prince Charles Lucien
Bonaparte, and other notabilities of the Associa-
tion.

' At the clpse of the feast, in which the Rhine
wines were memorable, the Archbishop's carriage
being summoned, our '.' partie carree " took their
seats arid, led the way back to Freiburg. We
descended at the Town Hall. Eschricht and I had
agreed to give a douceur to the Archbishop's staff.
But the chasseur most politely declined, saying
in German that his Eminence, his master, felt
honoured by our acceptance of the small service
he was able to afford us, &c.

138 . PROFESSOR OWEN CH. iv.

' And we gaily walked off to Eschricht's
quarters to chat and laugh over the unexpected
incidents of the excursion.

' I called on Mrs. Buckland the next morning
— the Baron's reception of us had confirmed her
in her conclusions of the grandiosity of my fellow-
travellers — and she heard, with mingled emotions,
the facts of the case ; admitting, however, that
the ladies of the Association could not have been
better represented than by the fair and graceful
young Danish bride.'

The following and last letter that was written
by Owen to his wife during this tour is dated
Heidelberg, September 25, 1838, and in it he
says : ' We arrived here at twelve noon this day ;
washed, shaved (we have been in the diligence a
day and night), mended a large rent in my inex-
pressibles, and got into trim to call on Professor
Tiedemann. ... I have arranged to arrive at
Antwerp and set sail — or steam I should say —
for London and home on Sunday, 30th, and trust
to clasp my best loved treasures in my arms
on Monday or Tuesday. I have had a sore
temptation to resist on the part of Agassiz, who is
accompanied by Prince Lucien and the Buck-
lands to Neuchatel this day, but I said that
Switzerland must be another journey when you
and I returned from Italy. . . . My reception at
Freiburg has been most flattering, and my visit
most agreeable. But the Germans work harder

1837-38 RETURN FROM GERMANY 139

than the Newcastle men, and time passed pretty
quickly there. . . . We left Freiburg Monday
(yesterday) at noon . . . No dinner was to be had
on the road, so I offered a market woman at the
corner of the street a small coin with about half a
farthing's worth of copper in it, and pointed to
her basket of fine jargonel pears. She gave me
two handfuls and then began to fumble in a huge
pocket for change. I pointed next to a wisket of
lovely grapes — blue and green ; got two bunches of
each, and still change left — had it out in plums ;
and Cooper and I, with our pockets full, next
called in at a baker's, got some rolls, and made a
very primitive and delicious meal as we rolled
along out of Freiburg. . . . Many kisses for my
Willie. I shall soon sing him into recollection if
he has forgotten me. .... Many kind inquiries
and good wishes were made, and often, after my
father-in-law ; there were many Germans who
had a lively recollection of his urbanity to them
when in London. We start to-night for Mann-
heim, then steam to Bonn ; there a day or two
museuming, and then for Home, Home, dear
Home ! '

Owen returned from Germany, as the journal
shows, on October i . The following entries then
occur : —

' October 20. — R. to a Council at the Zoo-
logical Gardens, where an inquiry was made about
the death of the poor djeggetai, or wild ass. The

I40 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. lY.

Wappiti Stag had forced open the wooden door
which separated them, and gored the poor creature
so horribly as to obhge the keeper to put it out of
its misery.'

'November i. — R. at the British Museum
with Lord Northampton, who had written to R.
for an appointment. It was to examine a fossil
which has evidently puzzled people. It proved
to be the cartilaginous rays of the fins of an enor-
mous fish denuded of the connected membrane.'

' 6th. — A visit from Dr. and Mrs, Buckland
and their two eldest boys, a friend, and a couple
of live marmots ; both the Doctor and Mrs-
Buckland looking all the better for their German
tour. The Doctor sat on the sofa with the two
marmots and his bag on his lap. They were all
going to Drury Lane. I don't know whether the
marmots are going too ! '

' I "jth. — R. very busy over the muscles of the
apteryx. When finished, he sat up till three read-
ing " Gilbert Gurney Married." '

On November 24 Owen received the news
from Lancaster of the illness of his mother, and
set off at once to his sisters. He wrote a short
note to his wife, dated Lancaster, Sunday, one
o'clock, November 25, 1838:- —

'As I anticipated, my poor mother's sleep
proved to be her last ; she never revived more
than to be conscious of the little kind offices
done to ease her position and breathing and to sip

1837-38 HIS MOTHER'S DEATH 141

a little wine. She expired in peace at eleven
o'clock last night. If I had left home on Thursday-
night, I should not have found her nn a conscious
state, as she has slept from early on Friday morn-
ing. J found my sisters and Cousin Grace much
comforted at seeing me.

' I have had a cold and melancholy journey,
not being able to sleep, and ,now can scarcely
guide my pen. ..."

On November 30 he sent his wife further par-
ticulars of his mother's death and says : ' Yester-
day I followed the remains of my dear mother to
their last resting-place. My sisters and Cousin
Grace — few and sincere mourners — were her ofily
followers, for she had outlived all her old friends
save one or two who are confined by the infirmities
of age to their beds or houses. She rests beneath
the tree which she pointed out to me at the con-
clusion of our last walk together ; and her usual
stroll last summer was into the churchyard, where
she used to sit on a gravestone having a view of
the place she had selected for her last home, and
often cast a weary eye around as if longing to be
at rest. She was then too feeble to walk alone,
and her active mind and habits made her feel her
increasing infirmities and, as she expressed it, her
uselessness here. . . .'

On December 2, 1838, Owen wrote to Clifton
general matters, and mentions : ' As my report on
British Saurians requires me to examine Sir Philip

142 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. iv.

Egerton's rich collection, I may not again have so
convenient an opportunity of devoting a few days
to it as when passing so near his mansion in my
journey south by the railroad. . . .' 'I find my
grandmother by father's side lies buried in Wan-
stead Church, Essex, in the vault of the Froysels,
her family. She died a few hours after my father's
birth — very young. Some summer's day we must
make a holiday there, and I a pilgrimage to her
early tomb.'

1839- 40 THE MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY 143

CHAPTER V

1839-40

Foundation of the Microscopical Society — Reconstruction of the
' Dinornis ' — Corresponding Member of the Institute of France,
1839 — First part of the Report on British Fossil Reptiles read
before the British Association at Birmingham, 1839 — Part I. of
the ' Odontography' completed, 1840.

For some years Owen had taken a considerable
interest in microscopical work, and had made
many observations in the corpuscles of the blood
in man and other animals. About this time, also,
Dr. J. E. Bowerbank, of Highgate, gathered
around him a few friends at certain stated times
for the discussion of microscopical problems.
The little band used to meet at each other's homes,
and Owen was a frequent but not a regular visitor.
Eventually Bowerbank, Farre, and the rest
determined to form a society which should have
for its object microscopical research. Owen,
from his abilities and position, was selected as the
first president of the new society, and he occupied
the chair in 1840 and 1841, and delivered the first
two presidential addresses to the Royal Micro-

144 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. v.

scopical Society.^ His friend, Dr. Arthur Farre,
was the first secretary.

While occupied in giving his Hunterian
Lectures for the year, Owen described a ' fragment
of the femur of an unknown bird from New
Zealand.' This fragment of a large bone, like a
marrow-bone in appearance, was one day brought
to him by a sea-faring man, and from this slight
evidence he built up a creature which he asserted
was a gigantic wingless bird, in spite of the strong
resemblance which the bone had to that of an ox.
The story is best given in his own words, taken
from the preface to his ' Extinct Birds of New
Zealand.' Here he says : —

' The advantage of attention to any object of
natural history, however unattractive, if it be not
a recognisable or previously known specimen, is
exemplified in this fragment of bone,^

' The individual who originally brought it to
me stated that he had obtained it in New Zealand
from a native, who told him that it was the bone
of a great eagle.

' I assured him that he had been misinformed ;

^ Journ. R. Microsc. Soc, los.) was deemed too high for

1893, p. 106. the fragment by the then Mu-

^ The specimen in question seums Committee of the College,

was submitted for sale in the and it was afterwards purchased

first place to the British Museum, by Richard Bright, of Bristol. It

and the vendor was recom- has since been presented, with

mended by Dr. Gray to offer it the rest of the Bright Collection,

to the Royal College of Sur- to the Trustees of the British

geons. The price asked (10/. Museum by his grandson.

1839-40

BONE OF A GIGANTIC BIRD

145

that the specimen had not the structure of a bone
of such a bird of flight ; that it was a marrow-
bone, Hke those brought to table wrapped in a
napkin. To further questions as to its locaHty,
the vendor repHed by showing, amongst other
evidences, a jadestone weapon pecuUar to the

FEMUR OF A MOA

New Zealanders, which he had also brought from
the island, and still seemed to attach so much
value to the unpromising fragment, that I con-
sented, being at the time specially engaged, to
try to make out the bone, if he would leave it
with me and call for it the next day.

' As soon as I was at leisure I took the bone

VOL. I. L

146 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. v.

to the skeleton of the ox, expecting to verify my
first surmise ; but with some resemblance to the
shaft of the thigh bone, there were precluding
differences ; from the ox's humerus, which also
affords the tavern delicacy, the discrepancy of
shape was still more marked. Led by the thick-
ness of the wall of the marrow cavity, I proceeded
to compare the bone with similar sized portions
of the skeletons of the various quadrupeds which
might have been introduced and have left their
remains in New Zealand ; but it was clearly un-
conformable with any such portions. In the
course of these comparisons I noted certain ob-
scure superficial markings on the bones, which
recalled to mind similar ones which I had
observed on the surface of the long bones in
some large birds. Thereupon I proceeded with
it to the skeleton of the ostrich. The bone
tallied in point of size with the shaft of the thigh-
bone, but was markedly different in shape.

' There were, however, the same superficial
reticulate impressions on the ostrich's femur
which had caught my attention in the exhaustive
comparison previously made with the mammalian
bones.

' In short, stimulated to a more minute and
extended examination, I arrived at the conviction
that the specimen had come from a bird ; that "it
was the shaft of a thigh-bone, and that it must
have formed part of the skeleton of a bird as

1839-4° TRACING THE BONE'S OWNER 147

large as, if not larger than, the full-sized male
ostrich — with this more striking difference, that
whereas the femur of the ostrich, like that of the
cassowary, emu, rhea, and eagle, is "pneumatic"
or contains air, the present huge bird's bone had
been filled with marrow, like that of a beast.

' When its owner called the next day, I told
him, with much pleasure, the result of my com-
parisons, and assured him that I would recom-
mend the purchase of the bone, at the price
asked, to the Museum Committee.

' I regret to relate that, notwithstanding my
testimony, the purchase of the unpromising frag-
ment was declined ; and it was not convenient to
me in 1839 to pay the sum out of my own
pocket. I promised, however, to commend the
specimen to other possible purchasers, one of
whom I found, through my friend Mr. Broderip,
F.R.S., in Benjamin Bright, Esq., then M.P. for
Bristol.

' Meanwhile the vendor permitted me to
make some drawings, and these, together with my
descriptions and conclusions, were submitted to
the Zoological Society of London, November 12,
1839. I was not surprised that there was some
hesitation in the Publication Committee as to
the admission of the paper with the plate into the
"Transactions."

' The bone was not fossilised ; it might have

L 2

148 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. v.

come from a kind still existing. But a bird larger
than an ostrich, belonging to a " heavier and more
sluggish species," could hardly have escaped ob-
servation in a tract of dry land such as New Zea-
land. Moreover, after arriving at the conviction
that the "bone" was part of a huge terrestrial
bird, I still felt some uncertainty as to the alleged
habitat. At that date, the largest known land-
bird of the islands of New Zealand was the
apteryx, and even its existence had begun to be
doubted. Accordingly, the Earl of Derby, then
President of the Zoological Society, who pos-
sessed the unique skin, which had been brought
by Captain Barclay from New Zealand in 1812,
and had been figured by Dr. Shaw in his
" Naturalist's Miscellany," transmitted the speci-
men to the Society, and confided it in 1833,
for re-examination and description to William
Yarrell.

' Now this bird was barely the size of a
pheasant, and "the bone " indicated a bird as big
as an ostrich.

' But the ostrich has the continent of Africa for
its home, the rhea roams over South America, the
emu over Australia, casuarius has not only New
Guinea, but North Australia, and some neigh-
bouring islands, as its habitat.

' The misgivings of Vigors and some other
of my zoological contemporaries were as to the
possibility of a terrestrial bird, of the size I sup-

1839-40 INCREDULITY AND DOUBT 149

posed, having been able at any time to find sub-
sistence in so small a tract as New Zealand.

' That island, moreover, had been visited by
accomplished naturalists, and the only evidence
of a wingless bird which they had been able to
obtain there were fragments and feathers of a
small one called " kivi-kivi " by the natives, who
hunted it by night with torches and dogs.
M. Lesson accordingly refers the evidences of
this bird brought from New Zealand by the cir-
cumnavigatory vessel "La Coquille" in 1828, to
the Apteryx australis of Shaw. Similar evi-
dence is given by M. D'Urville and MM. Quoy
and Gaimard* '

' The interpretation of a single fragment of
bone seemed to my more experienced seniors too
narrow a foundation for the inference " that there
had existed, if there does not now exist, in New
Zealand a struthious bird equal in size to the
ostrich." Nevertheless, I urged that it was not an
ostrich, consequently not any then known species
of bird, and that it might as well have come from
New Zealand as anywhere else.

' Ultimately the admission of this paper into
the "Transactions," with one plate, was carried by
the Committee, the responsibility of the paper
" resting exclusively with the author."

' On the publication of the volume, one hun-
dred extra copies of the paper were struck off,
and these I distributed in every quarter of the

no

PROFESSOR OWEN

CH. V

islands of New Zealand where attention to such
evidences was likely to be attracted.

'The confirmatory response, anxiously expected

DINORNIS (PACHYORNIS) ELEPHANTOPUS, OWEN

Side view of a skeleton of the Elephant-footed Moa, from New Zealand,
restored by Owen. About i natural size.

through the years 1840, 1841, and 1842, at length
arrived, in a letter from the Rev. William
Cotton, M.A., in one from Colonel Wakefield,
and in some collections of bones transmitted by

1839-4° DINORNIS ELEPHANTOPUS 151

the Rev. William Williams, and received in 1843
by the Rev. Dr. Buckland, at Oxford, and by
Dr. (afterwards Sir John) Richardson, at Haslar
Hospital. These specimens, generously confided
to me for description, formed the subject of a
paper communicated to the Zoological Society,
November 28, 1843.' *

The incredulity and doubt with which this
opinion was received were too great for a time for
Owen's mere assertion to dispel ; but by-and-by
the whole skeleton was brought over to this
country, and then his opinion was converted into
a fact. ' We well remember,' remarks a writer in
the 'Quarterly Review' (March 1852),^ ' seeing
this fragment of the shaft of a femur when it first
arrived, and hearing the opinion of the Professor
as to the bird to which it must have belonged.
He took, in our presence, a piece of paper and
drew the outline of what he conceived to be the
complete bone. The fragment, from which alone
he deduced his conclusions, was six inches in
length and five inches and a half in its smallest
circumference ; both extremities had been broken
off. When a perfect bone arrived and was laid
on the paper, it fitted exactly the outline which
he had drawn.'

The following extracts from Mrs. Owen's diary
show the way in which Owen employed his time
and relieved his work with intervals of relaxation :

5 W. J. Broderip.

152 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. v.

' After a hard day's work, I persuaded R. to stop,
so we called for my father and mother and went off
to Covent Garden. Shakespeare's " Tempest,"
as he wrote it, was the attraction, and th,e crowd
tremendous. My father softened the heart of
the box-keeper with a shilling, for he had many
applicants, and we got second and third seats in a
good box. Neither R. nor I had ever seen the
" Tempest." Father and mother had seen it
several times, but as it used to be played, garbled
and altered in a terrible manner. Miss P. Horton,
as Ariel, excellent ; as was G. Bennet (Caliban).
Macready very disappointing as Prospero, his
voice is now so feeble and his manner monotonous.
Miss Faucit, of course, played well as Miranda, but
did not look the part. For the first time since poor
Joe Grimaldi could we sit out the pantomime.'

'January lo. — R. to the Geological Society,
where he read the paper on Dr. Harlan's fossil
and the Stonesfield jaw. Dr. Grant was obliged to
admit, in spite of his teeth, that they were mam-
malia and not saurians. As soon as R. came
home he made for " Barnaby Rudge," and sat with
him till past two o'clock.'

' 1 2th. — We examined some of the eggs of the
argonaut in the microscope. It was astonishing
to see the tiny eggs containing the creature with
its arms and immense eyes and the body like a
cloud. There was no appearance of the rudi-
mentary shell, but all seems to make it certain that

1839-40 ON ARGONAUTS 153

it inhabits its own shell and no other. Mr.
Broderip also had a look afterwards. R. showed
him the specimen in the bottle, and seemed to
think the point was practically settled.'

' I %th. — At eight o'clock with R. to the Royal
Institution to hear Faraday lecture on electricity,
galvanism, and the electric eel. *Faraday is the
beau iddal of a popular lecturer.'

' 26th. — R. and I to Great Ormond Street,
where Madame Power* showed us her boxes of
fossil shells, &c., and some molluscs in bottles,
and, above all, the argonaut shells with the frac-
tures made by her in her experiments, beautifully
filled up and mended : three specimens in different
stages of reconstruction, the first filled up with
a substance like the lining membrane of a boiled
egg. This was done in about ten minutes after
the piece was cut away by Madame Power ; the
more perfect restorations had the corrugations
formed to match the rest.'

'February 2.— R. to Madame Power's and
brought away three bottles full of argonauts. A
beautiful collection ! One of them has the sail
spread back over the shell, the suckers on the
points. Madame P. says that if we count the
suckers they will be found to correspond with the
number of points. This, with other circum-
stances, makes the question, I think, not whether

'' Jeanette Power, tide de Villepreux, a lady who made extensive
researches on the paper nautilus.

154 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. v.

the poulpe belongs to the shell, but how it has
come to pass that, after so many have debated
on the subject, Madame P. has been the first to
discover these things.'

On February 7 Owen received the news that
he was elected corresponding member of the
Institute of France (Section d'Anatomie et de
Zoologie).

' Some little time ago,' Mrs. Owen writes
apropos of this election, ' R. was pressed by one or
two well-meaning friends in France, to send to the
Academy a list of his works as a sort of certificate
that he was worthy of the honour. This he flatly
but politely refused to do, or to act in any way so
as to lead them to suppose he was touting to be
elected. He is now doubly glad that he was firm
about it, as the present conduct of the Acade-
micians shows their opinion in a public manner
of the strange conduct of Coste. Miiller and
Oken were the others for whom they balloted —
both considerably older than R.'

On February 26, Prince Ch. Lucien Bonaparte
writes to Owen from Paris. After remarking that
he has sent Owen a MS. for the Linnean or
some other society, which he is anxious to have
printed immediately, he continues : —

' I rely, at all events, exclusively upon you,,
whom I know as a man of more doing than
saying.

' And now let me congratulate you upon your

I839-40 CHARLES LUCIEN BONAPARTE 155

glorious election by the French Institute and upon
your triumph over the first luminaries of Germany.
You know that I refused standing against you,
and my friendship in this case was more useful to
myself than to you. The scientific friend who
has announced me your election reminds me of
my withdrawing before you, and adds " Vous
avez eu la modestie" ("bien rare," he could have
added, in France, "chez les hommes de votre
note"). We shall see now whether I shall be
elected at the first election for the remaining
vacancy, which is to take place on the loth or 17th
of March. I confess I should much prefer to be
elected a member of the Royal Society, for it
would help me in the accomplishment of my
favourite plan, the periodical meetings of the
scientific men in Italy. You will know shortly
the particulars ; I can only say now that we shall
meet on October i at a preparatory meeting at
Pisa. Can we not hope to see you and other
eminent Englishmen among us ? We also have
done ourselves the honour of electing you a
member of our Academia dei Lincei, which holds
their meeting in the capital ! . . . Present my
respectful compliments to Mrs. Owen, and bear
in mind you have in me a profound admirer, and
a friend who wishes to be tried in any occurrence.
' Your most affectionate and devoted
' Charles L. Bonaparte,
' Prince of Musignano.'

156 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. v.

Mrs. Owen's diary informs us that :—

' 25. — A most curious mark of popularity-
witnessed yesterday in front of the College — a
man parading up and down with a transparent
lantern with the words illuminated " Owen's
lectures to be sold ! " R. says he has no notion
what they can be like. Mme. Power here. She
is going to France, she says, on account of her
health — I think on account of her fossils. I am
sorry no one has taken them off her hands in this
country.'

' March 7. — R. at work on revision of " Mar-
supial Osteology," Afterwards comparing fossil
bones, those brought by Sir Woodbine Parish from
Buenos Ayres with those published in the Berlin
" Transactions." Both found with coat of mail.'

' 10th. — R, busy over his paper ^ to show that
the Megatherium has most probably no coat of
mail, and that the bones found with the shield
belonged to it. He has a beautiful and rare
armadillo, shell and bones, which tell the story
capitally ; the relative size of the roses in the
armadillo shell to the bones helps forward the
matter strongly.'

'April 21. — R. to Lord Cole's to breakfast.

^ This was the paper in armour had originally been

which Owen corrected and confused as part of the integu-

redescribed the Glyptodon, an ment of the Megatherium by

extinct armadillo-like animal Mr. Clift, Dr. Buckland, and

from Buenos Ayres, whose others.

1839-40 'A RARE FOSSIL' 157

The valet began a pitiable tale of his master
having been kept at the House till 5 a.m., and
that he was still asleep. R. was just saying that
he was not to disturb his master, when Sir P. de
Grey Egerton appeared in a dressing-gown and
begged R. to come upstairs, as he had a strange
and rare fossil to show him. He led R. to a
room and said, " There it is." There lay poor
Lord Cole half asleep, but Sir Philip was re-
morseless and made him get up.'

' i(ith. — Two hampers came. When we opened
them we found one contained a dead Lophius,
the other a live bird of the diver kind. A note
with them from the Isle of Wight explained that
the bird and fish were seen and caught by some
fishermen. The bird partly swallowed and stuck
in the mouth of the fish. Perhaps they were
both darting after the same object of prey. R.
sent the diver to the Zoo, and a few days after
the keeper told him the bird frequently dived and
brought up fish in the pond. However, R. is
afraid that it may not live long in fresh water,
being purely a sea bird.'

'May 15. — Our young friend Frederick Pol-
lock here. As a very little boy, he once crushed
Richard with a remark. We were having a chil-
dren's party at our house, and the boy went off
to the dining-room and began looking over a
huge folio volume on the sofa, while the other
children were in the drawing-room dancing. R.

158 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. v.

went after him and said, " Fred, why don't you
go and dance too ? If you don't learn to dance
you will never please the ladies ! " He looked
up with a grave face and said, impressively, " For
that very reason I never wish to learn ! " '

'June 1 8. — Accouchement of Madame Giraffe
at her residence in the Zoological Gardens, of a
son. The mother standing licking some salt.
The nurses had given the young gentleman some
warm cow's milk out of a sucking bottle. It is
wonderfully well formed for so recent an animal.
It is like a big one reduced in size. Its mother
will not allow it to go near her. Sir P. Egerton,
who called and came with us, told me that deer
left their new-born for a day or more, and that
the little creatures lay without nourishment until
the mother chose to come to them. The keepers
said we need not hurry away, as the mother rather
liked company than not. Mr. Whewell brought
R. two MS. numbers of his great work ^ to-day
for R. to look over.'

'25M. — R. to the Zoological Society. He
intends to read his remarks on the young giraffe.'

' 2bth.- — R. at the last minute made up his
mind to see " Henry V." under Macready's man^
agement. He returned highly pleased, and said
that Macready seems to have done for Shake-
speare much as he had been trying to do for
John Hunter.'

'' Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences.

1839-40 BRITISH ASSOCIATION 159

' 28/^. — Shocked to find the young giraffe
dead. Nothing discovered to account for it. R.
had the melancholy satisfaction of dissecting it.'

'July 24. — R. to Greenwich with Mr. Stokes
and Lord Cole. Whilst the party were dining at
the " Crown and Sceptre " some singers enter-
tained them with glees. Lord' Cole said they
should sing "God save the Queen" to finish,
and as the waiter was going to give the order
Mr. Stokes whispered to him, " Tell them to
strike up ' Old King Cole,' " which they did, to
the infinite astonishment of King Cole himself

' i^th. — Mr. Hills called to alter the fetlocks of
the giraffes in his picture, which R. told him were
not right.'

"■August 26. — R. was to have gone to Bir-
mingham this morning, but could not get his
papers ready. He has been hard at work writing
his paper for the Association on British Saurians.'

' 27//^. — R. spent a sleepless night and had a
bad headache in the morning, but he had to start
for Birmingham at eight. I helped him pack the
diagrams, &c., and all was ready by half-past,
and he started in a cab.'

It was at the meeting of the British Associa-
tion held in Birmingham in 1839 that Owen read
the first part of his ' Report on British Fossil
Reptiles,' in which he collected for the first time
all the information then known. Previous to the
meeting he paid a short visit to the Bristol Museum

i6o PROFESSOR OWEN CH. v.

in order to make his final notes on the remains
there preserved, and also visited Lyme Regis,
and the quarries at Street, in Somersetshire. He
writes to his wife from Bristol on August 21, from
the ' White Lion,' Broad Street, ' with a coffee-
room pen : ' ' After a tedious passage of more
than thirty hours (instead of twenty) I arrived
here this afternoon at four.' He then says he is
leaving for Street and Lyme Regis, and hopes to
return to London by Friday morning. Referring
to Bristol, he says : ' I posted out on a voyage of
discovery to the Philosophical Institution. . . .
The old man [Stutchbury] was out, but expected
in soon. So I asked for the museum and busied
myself with notes on Sauria till he arrived. His
first exclamation was characteristic : " Well, I've
heard and read a deal about you, let's see what
you're like ; " and he brought me by both
shoulders to the window and scrutinised accord-
ingly. I stayed with him till eight, chiefly in the
museum, where I saw all I wanted. . . . The
Avon near Bristol, or I should say Clifton, is
equal to the best Rhine scenery.'

Owen reached Birmingham on August 27,
1839, and stayed with his old friend Middlemore
at 23 Temple Row. He contracted a severe
chill on his journey there, however, and ' went to
bed early, took, by my host's advice, some colchi-
cum and opium, and had a better night. . . .
Have been honoured with an invitation to dinner

1839-40 VISIT TO IRELAND 161

at Sir Robert Peel's at his seat near here. Thir-
teen of the Association have been selected.
Perhaps nothing could have given me .more
pleasure. Middlemore has, however, been peep-
ing down the red lane, and he says I must not go
with my throat in its present state, but must
nurse at home on slops and febrifuges. To this
I reluctantly consent, as the only means of getting
my voice into order to read my report on Thurs-
day, for, what with abbreviations and railroad
scribblings, nobody could read the MS. but
myself.'

Writing next day to Clift, he again refers to
his disappointment at not being well enough to
go to Sir Robert Peel's, and says the reading of
his report has been put off till the Saturday.

On September 3, 1839, Owen writes to his
wife from Florence Court, Fermanagh, the seat
of Lord Cole, where he had gone from Birming-
ham. He says : ' I was sufficiently well on
Saturday morning to read my report, which was
satisfactory to all concerned ; it lasted from
10 till 12.30. I had just time afterwards to
pack, eat a hasty lunch, and set off by the mail
train to Liverpool. There we were transferred
from the steam carriages to the steam-boat, and
set sail on Saturday evening with a dark, lowering
sky. . . . The journey [to Enniskillen from Dub-
lin] was extremely interesting to me. The Irish
cabin beats description. You might imagine a

VOL. I. M

i62 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. V.

traveller describing his conviction of the high and
peculiar value which the Irish have for the hog-
tribe ; the stys appropriated for the shelter of
these quadrupeds he would tell you surpassed in
size and commodiousness those of any other
nation. They are frequently warmed by means
of a turf fire, so that the children are often
attracted into them, and may be seen playing
with the pigs. What is remarkable is that,
although the peasantry are far from being few in
number, their habitations are nowhere visible.
The rags and tatters are the most picturesque in
the world. Shoes and stockings extremely rare,
the children half or quite naked. Few vehicles
of any description on the road, yet the country
well cultivated and mostly fertile. You are agree-
ably surprised. At a distance you see a poor
distressed-looking object, barefooted, with a gray
cloak over the head ; as you come nearer you see
an intelligent, healthy, laughing face under the
cloak, the very reverse of what you anticipated.'

On September 8, 1839, Owen writes to Mrs.
Clift from Florence Court, giving her a descrip-
tion of the house and grounds, and among the
details he gives are the following : ' There is
only one exceptional condition about Florence
Court ; it is about twenty bart^els of gunpowder,
which, with arms and accoutrements for five hun-
dred men, his lordship informed me, with peculiar
satisfaction, he kept for his boys, in spite of Dan

1839-40 SPORT AT FLORENCE COURT 163

or my Lord- Lieutenant. If, therefore, we are not
blown up or drowned In the passage home, you
may expect to see me on or about September 30.
This morning we went to church, and after the
second psalm my lord turned out of the pew,
and, striding to the altar, seized there an instru-
ment, in shape resembling a diminutive warming-
pan with half the lid wanting ; this he (being
churchwarden) presented to each of the con-
gregation, high and low, and traversed therewith
the church to the tinkling of half-pence, sixpences,
and shillings, which the charitably disposed
dropped in ; then, returning up the aisle, he fum-
bled half a crown out of his waistcoat pocket
with one hand, dropped it into the copper recep-
tacle in the other, and deposited the same, with
the gatherings of the perambulation, on the Com-
munion-table for the benefit of the poor. It
would not have been a bad picture — the green
coat, white breeches and long yellow leggings,
with the spectacles and good-humoured business-
like earnestness with which the ceremony was
gone through. The sermon was preached by an
old friend of the family, who told us this morning
he had visited the house in the grouse season for
five and thirty years. The Rev. Mr. French, a
hale and hearty old man, and a great favourite,
is rector of a neighbouring parish in Carlow.
He rides up the mountain on a mule, and his cos-
tume is far from being unpicturesque ; a Captain

M 2

i64 PROFESSOR OWEN en. v.

O' Kerry and a Mr. Trench are the other guests.
I must not forget, in describing the house, to men-
tion the peacocks which for many generations —
of peacocks — have adorned it, perched on the
window-sills or under the arches of the cloisters ;
to my ear their wild scream early of a morning is
not unmusical. Peat, turf, and wood are the kinds
of fuel consumed here, and a huge wicker-basket
of turf is placed by the side of each fireplace.
... I read the last number of " Nicholas Nickle-
by " in bed the other night.'

On September 13, 1839, he writes to Clift,
still from Florence Court : ' I have angled in
the river and caught trout ; trolled in the lough
end taken huge predatory pike ; traversed the
heath-clad moors and shot grouse. An appetite
sharpened by previous fasting, exercise, , and
mountain air, has enabled me to do ample justice
to Irish good cheer, and to carry to bed with the
decorum suitable to a Professor the quantum of
claret which my lord's guests are under the
obligation of swallowing when made free of the
house out of King William's Mustard-pot. . . .
I may spend a day with Mr. Hawkins at Street,
and take a run down to make love to Mary
Anning at Lyme, and then post home as fast as
stage-coach can carry me.'

In a letter sent by Owen to his sister Eliza on
October 18, 1839, after his return to London,
he writes : ' I accompanied Lord Cole to his

1839-4° VISITS TO SOMERSETSHIRE 165

uncle's, Mr. Owen Wynne, of Hazlewood [Sligo].
This gentleman is eighty-five, was in Parliament
with Burke, Fox, Sheridan, &c. ; has all his
faculties of mind and body unimpaired ; drove
me, for example, in a curricle and pair over
eighteen miles of the picturesque country around
his seat. . . .

'Sailed for Bristol [from Dublin]. Studied
the Saurian remains in that town, and went on
to Mr. Hawkins's, Sharpham Park, near Glaston-
bury. That worthy and eccentric man of genius
had procured me peacocks' eggs for breakfast
— no bad things, by the way — and other rarities
conformable. I had purposely given him short
notice ; but I found all his neighbours within
twelve miles — one gentleman came from Wells —
invited .that day to have, according to the card,
the honour to meet Prof Robt. Owen.'^ A
clergyman in the neighbourhood returned a brief
and indignant refusal to the invitation ; and when
I arrived I found Mr. Hawkins in the anxiety of
rectifying the impression. About fifteen mus-
tered, more than half expecting to see the
Socialist. I tarried in my dressing-room to the
last minute to shorten the exhibition ; but was
unearthed at last, and contrived to find one or
two conversible beings, and established at length
my claims to be regarded as one of the same
species. ... Sharpham Park is the oldest house

' The social reformer.

i66 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. v.

I was ever in. It was the residence of some
officer of the Abbey [Glastonbury], and is nearly
as old. It has a ghost, and Fielding wrote one
of his novels there. Hereafter it will have
geologists as pilgrims, for Hawkins has done
some wonderful work in the way of disencum-
bering the old Saurians of their stony shrouds.
. . . From Sharpham I went to Lyme Regis, and
there I met Buckland and Conybeare. They made
me prisoner, and drove me off to Axminster, of
which Conybeare is rector. Next day we had a
geological excursion with Mary Anning, and had
like to have been swamped with the tide. We
were cut off from rounding a point, and had to
scramble over the cliffs, I spent the next day in
Miss Philpott's museum ; then went to Char-
mouth, and so returned to London. . . . You
may perhaps have heard something of my late
discovery of a fossil monkey* in Norfolk.'

On November 28 Owen was back again in
London. 'Willy is delighted to get his father
back,' the diary relates ; ' especially when he got
his accustomed ride round the room.'

' December 1. — After breakfast R. and Mr. B."
sat in the back room, with locked doors to keep

^ ' Description of the Jaw of to belong to a primitive ungu-

the Fossil Macacus (Monkey) late, now claimed as one of the

from Woodbridge,' Mag. Nat. ancestors of the horse.
Hist. This was afterwards * J. S. Bowerbank.

shown by Mr. Ed. Charlesworth

1839-40 'ODONTOGRAPHY' 167

out Willy, who would not have aided any steady
experiments with the microscope. Blood discs.
Fresh blood from alligator and ostrich.'

' \']th. — R. read his paper, " Sheppey Fossils,"
at the Geological Society to-night'

On January 4, 1840, Owen sent Part I. of his
last volume of the Museum Catalogue^ to the press.
The following extracts from the journal may
serve as an example of Owen's every-day life at
this period : —

'January 23. — R. before dinner showed us
some of the engravings of teeth figured for his
work,- showing the beautiful architectural structure
which gives immense power to the tooth, at the
same time preventing pressure on the pulp. Lord
Northampton, Whewell, Buckland, &c., who had
never seen anything like them, were much de-
lighted.'

' 28M. — R. at H.A.C. on guard. He had only
about half an hour's watch. They had supper at
1 1 and coffee at 5 a.m., and spent the night chat-
ting and playing whist. R., though a private,
was in the officers' room. The order to keep
guard originated with the Home Office. - No
alarm of Chartists, however, disturbed the tran-
quillity of Bunhill Fields during the night.'

' 2pth. — First meeting of the Microscopical
Society since being fully established. R. had to

^ Descriptive and Illustrated 5 vols, 4to.
Catalogue of the Physiological ^ Odontography.
Series of Comparative Anatomy,

i68 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. v.

speak a good deal, and came back tired and
hungry. After supper he sat up and finished the
Plesiosaurus papers.'

'February lo.— Her Majesty married to
Prince Albert. We all drank their healths, and
went to the illuminations in the evening.'

' \()th. — To the Hunterian Society oration and
dinner. Mr. Bell gave an interesting lecture.
R.'s health drunk.'

' 26th. — Formal announcement of R.'s election
into the Athenaeum Club.'

'March 13. — Professor Sedgwick to tea and
microscope. At 9 to Mr. Lyell's, and met there
Mr. Babbage, Professor Wheatstone, Bishop of
Lichfield, &c.'

' 19M. — Whewell sent R. proofs of his " Philo-
sophy of the Inductive Sciences "to look over.
Drew fossil ichthyosaurus jaw, uncoloured. R.
to the Society of British Artists. Came back
very tired, having been tried beyond endurance
by some recitations and a pair of very tight
shoes.'

The April of this year seems to have been an
unfortunate month for the animals at the Zoolo-
gical Gardens.

' April 6. — Poor George, the lion, dead. M.
Zeitter made a fine sketch of him.'

' \(ith. — The sloth bear found dead in his cage,
with his two companions doing their best to eat
him.'

1839-40 BRITISH ASSOCIATION, 1841 169

' \']th. — One of the dingos escaped.'

With these subjects ready for dissection, and
his Hunterian Lectures, which began on April 21,
Owen had his time fully occupied. The subject
of the lectures this year was, ' The Comparative
Anatomy of the Generative Organs and the
Development of the Ovum and Foetus in the dif-
ferent Classes of Animals.'

With regard to the dissection of animals dying
at the Gardens, there was some discussion at this
time.

' On June 3,' the diary records, ' affairs were
settled satisfactorily at the Zoological Council on
the question of the dissection of animals. R. had
asked Sir P. Egerton, Lord Braybrooke, and
others to attend that meeting. He himself could
only look in at the fag end, as he had been at a
committee meeting at the College. By the time
he arrived he found that an order had been
entered to the effect that the Hunterian Professor
should be allowed to dissect whenever and what-
ever he liked when death occurred at the Gardens,
and that he is to have precedence over any other
person.'

As soon as the Hunterian Lectures were off
his hands for the season, we find Owen collecting
materials for the second part of his report on
British Fossil Reptiles, which was read before
the British Association in 1841. That he spared
no trouble over this is shown from the following

I70 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. v.

letter written to his wife from York, dated Tues-
day, August 4, 1840: —

' Since I left you I have gone over more
ground than I ever did in my life before in the
same time. Thanks to my experienced fellow-
traveller [Lord Enniskillen], no time has been
lost. From Derby, yesterday morning, we visited
Loughboro', Barrow-on-Soar, Leicester, Notting-
ham, and returned to Derby to dinner. You may
imagine that such a day, after a preceding night's
steaming from London, disposed us both for bed
soon after dinner was over. This morning we rose
at five, and journeyed by railway to York, where
we arrived to breakfast at eleven, after a ride of
ninety odd miles. Since then we have been spend-
ing some hours in the museum, and have visited
the Minster Hitherto, I have been dis-
appointed of Saurians ; the museums at Leicester
and Nottingham were crowded with visitors —
working classes. Never saw a better experiment
of the amount of danger to be apprehended from
indiscriminate admission of English canaille, and,
so far as we saw and heard, quite successful. All
very orderly and 2}\paws off; but I found myself
the centre of a group wherever I had to take
notes of a fossil specimen. To-morrow we start
for Scarboro'. We have had lovely weather, and
gone most of our journeys by railways. Along that
from Derby to York there are divers tunnels —
" antres vastes." A party of men at work in one

1839-40 SCARBOROUGH AND WHITBY 171

looked, as they cowered together with their lamps
close up by the side of the tunnel, like so many
gnomes ; the combination of sounds, rattling along
at full speed, the rushing of the rapidly displaced
air, and the incessant yell-shriek of the steam-
screamer, kept up to warn the tunnellers, defies
all description. Pitch-darkness, the sparks from
the engine darting through the palpable obscure,
and the cowering figures, like shadows as we
swept past them, left all that imagination could
picture of a hurrying off of spirits to Pluto's dread
abode far behind.

' All this while Lord Enniskillen would ride
outside, and my apprehensions were lest the engi-
neer of the tunnel might not have calculated for
outside passengers of his altitude.^ I could not
help stretching out at the window to catch a
glimpse of his head, if still in its right place, as
soon as we emerged into daylight. There it was,
however, and so far both the travellers are all
right.'

On August 6 he writes again to his wife,
announcing his visits to Scarborough and Whitby.
While at Scarborough he met for the first time
Barbara, Marchioness of Hastings, an enthusiastic
collector, who in later years sent many fossil
remains to Owen for description. His reference
to her is characteristic. ' We dined with an old

' Owen was six feet in his socks ; but Lord Enniskillen was
considerably taller.

172 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. v.

college acquaintance of Lord E.'s, the Marquis
of Hastings, who is at Scarboro' with his wife.
... A very agreeable evening. The Marchioness
is a great fossilist. ... I have been at work in
the museum (Whitby) ever since breakfast, lifting
heavy fossils, measuring, sketching, and scribbling
till my hand aches, or Hhs, as John Kemble
would say.'

Soon after, in the same year, the first part of
' Odontography ; or, a Treatise on the Comparative
Anatomy of the Teeth,' appeared. This great
work, begun in 1840 and finished in 1845, con-
sisted of two quarto volumes of 650 pages. It
was the result of a series of microscopical inves-
tigations, suggested by some fragments of the
teeth of the extinct Megatherium and other
animals from South America, which were sub-
mitted to him by Charles Darwin. These frag-
ments were in a state of incipient decomposition,
and in examining them Owen was led to investi-
gate and compare the differences existing in the
external character of the microscopical structure
of the teeth of every class of animal. This
remarkable work, the ' Odontography,' was illus-
trated by 168 carefully-drawn plates ; but the
constant microscopical study, combined with the
preparation of the drawings for this work, which
he was anxious to do himself, threatened him with
an attack of retinitis, and this compelled him to
put the illustrations in the careful and painstaking

1839-40 GUIZOT 173

hands of Erxleben and Lens Aldous. ' The
wonder is,' as he himself would frequently remark,
' that he had any eyesight left at all.' But even
to extreme old age it was exceedingly good,
except that he could never endure a bright light
of any sort.

After finishing Part I. of the ' Odontography,'
he was so much interested in the subject that he
immediately started on Part II. in spite of his
other work. Writing a short note to his wife
(September 23, 1840), he says : ' My hands will
be pretty full, with Catalogue, geological papers,
and Part II. of my " Odontography." ' The end
of September and beginning of October Owen
was at home, and his wife mentions how he
met Guizot at the Zoological Gardens, thus
describing the French Ambassador : ' He looks
a plain, business-like old man, but very keen-
looking, his thumbs stuck in his waistcoat sleeve-
holes {a PAnglaise, as they call it). Richard after-
wards dined at the Athenaeum, and he told me
that he had mentioned the little waterworms that
I first noticed whilst looking attentively into our
glass globe. He said that nobody seemed to
know them. In examining them under the
microscope we saw three blood canals and an
alimentary canal. They are in incessant motion,
and work in an oblong hole, from which about
half their body emerges, throwing up a rampart
of earth round them of a regular form.'

174 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. v.

' October 8. — At R.'s desire, in the Gardens
to-day, the monkeys and the elephants were
let out to enjoy the sunshine long before the
general time, two o'clock. I have long tried to
get some one to see to this, as many of the
animals would be the better for it.'

On October 14, 1840, Owen wrote to his
wife from Hythe : ' I arrived safely at Hythe,
and have been most kindly received and hos-
pitably treated by Mr. Makeson [Mackeson] and
his four accomplished daughters and one son ;
they sent for a violoncello last night, and we had
a Beethoven and a Hummel. This morning I
was at work two or three hours at the g-reat
Reptile. It is not Igtianodon, but a kind of huge
crocodile.* . . . To-morrow I ride over to Folke-
stone, and Friday I proceed to Hastings, and
thence to Mr. Dixon's * at Worthing.'

On October 18, 1840, after describing to his
wife the journey by mail-cart from Hythe
through Romney, Rye, Winchelsea, and over
Fairlight Down, he writes from the Royal Oak
Hotel, Hastings : ' I shall thus have but one day
for fossilising with Mr. Dixon, my geological
invitor to Worthing, for I must be in London to
preside at the Microscopical on Wednesday
evening, having the prefatory history of the
Society — part of which I have written — and all

^ Dinodocus ■mackeso7ii.

= Author of The Geology of Sussex, 1850.

1839-40 EPITAPH TO HARVEY'S MOTHER 175

its laws, bye-laws, regulations, and ordinances
to submit to my Council of State prefatory to
printing. So that this little duty, together with
the wish to put on record while fresh in my mind
the peculiarities of the gigantic Saurian at Hythe,
has made me less regret having had a quiet day
and a half at mine inn at this place, so pleasant
in itself and its recollections. There has been a
fine little fellow, rising four, with just little Willie's
straw hat and holland over-all, who has made my
heart jump higher than usual more than once, as
he ran about or dug up the shingle in front of my
window. I have had some struggle, too, to keep
to my work, and if I had not had the sea in at
both senses — eye and ear — I should hardly have
had patience to finish the twentieth page of my
Saurian memoranda ; but this huge fragment of a
beast deserved it. It is not an Iguanodon. ... I
had a day at Folkestone, and found out a little
brass tablet to Harvey's mother in the church
aisle. She is described as a

" Godly, harmless Woman,
A chaste loving Wife,
A charitable quiet Neighbour,
A comfortable friendly Matron,
A provident diligent Huswyfe,
A careful teder harted Mother."

' I know one to whom such an epitaph would
be as true as it doubtless was to the mother of
the great discoverer of the circulation ; and that

176 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. v.

she too may prove the mother of as good, if not
as great a man, is the fervent prayer of her
affectionate husband,

' Richard Owen.'

In a postscript to this letter he writes : ' On a
wooden tablet which records Harvey's bene-
factions to his native place — the Church Ward-
ens have had the grace to say, in a parenthesis
"(he found out the circulation of blood.)" . . .
I proceed now to discuss a goblet of brandy and
water for the good of the house, and a pipe of
tobacco for my own benefit'

In this month Part I. of the ' Report of British
Fossil Reptiles ' was finished. Sir P. de Grey
Egerton writes from Oulton Park on the sub-
ject : —

Sir Philip Egerton to R. Owen

October 26, 1840.
' My dear Owen, — . . . I have just completed
the perusal of your first report [" British Fossil
Reptiles "], which is glorious. I feel perfectly sure
that the terms in which that report is spoken of
by those with whom I have conversed, and who
are more competent than I am to value its merits,
and the public mention of it at Glasgow, in the
secretaries' report and elsewhere, must be most

1839-40 RELAXATION 177

gratifying to yourself as they are to me. I can
only say that I feel no further regrets at having
been the cause of imposing this burden upon you,
and shall always consider that, of my humble
efforts in furtherance of scientific knowledge, the
most important has been that, if not of causing,
at all events of accelerating the production of so
valuable a report. I am so much delighted with
it that I freely forgive you for christening my
Plesiosaur " Old Spooney." '

In November Owen was back again in
London. His wife's diary for November 21
mentions that her husband ' brought back with
him to dinner Dr. Buckland, Professor Agassiz,
and Dr. Mantell, and afterwards entertained them
to their heart's content with the microscope.
They made some experiments in blood globules.
Dr. Buckland' s blood irregular, that of Agassiz
regular. Dr. Mantell, who stated that he ha-d
a very slow circulation, on examination proved to
have blood globules of a decidedly larger size
than the others. Dr. Buckland was just saying
with that droll look of his, "Why, Mantell, you see
you have a good deal of the reptile about you,"
when the news was brought in that the Queen
was safely delivered of a little princess, so the
discussion was stopped by all the gentlemen
drinking health to Her Majesty.'

Nothing afforded Owen more relaxation
during his hard work than a visit to the theatre,

VOL. L N

178 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. v.

as occasional extracts taken from the diaries will
have shown. Even during his busiest moments
he would go with his wife to see any piece of
importance that was being played, and they both
numbered many friends amongst the profession.
One of his favourite operatic pieces was Weber's
' Oberon,' which, as he has often said, he went
to see thirty nights in succession, when it was
first produced in London, and further, that he
paid for his seat each night. There are full
accounts in the diaries of the plays they both
went to see. On November 27 is an entry
which will serve as a further example : —

' R. and I to the Haymarket Theatre to see
Bulwer's new play " Money ; " but the bills stated
that in consequence of a severe domestic cala-
mity Mr. Macready could not appear, so they put
on " Town and County," Mrs. Stirling playing
Rosalie Somers delightfully. " Family Jars" was
the last piece. Altogether a capital entertain-
ment in spite of our disappointment.'

1841-42 M. DE BLAINVILLE

179

CHAPTER VI

1841-42

Hunterian Lectures — Progress with 'Odontography' — British
Association at Plymouth, 1841 — Report on ^ British Fossil
Mammalia,' 1842-43 — Public Dinnerinhis Honour at Lancaster,
1842 — Oifer of a Civil-List Pension, 1842.

Amongst the papers which Owen contributed to
various societies in 1841 may be mentioned
(i.) ' Description of the Remains of Six Species
of Marine Turtles from the London Clay' (' Pro-
ceedings Geological Society') : containing in germ
his ' British Fossil Reptiles ; ' (ii.) ' On the Teeth
of the Genus Labyrinthodon ' ('Transactions
Geological Society ') ; and (iii.) ' On the Genus
Euplectella aspergillum' (Venus' Flower-basket)
(' Zoological Transactions ').

At the end of January 1841 Owen received
from De Blainville a confirmation of the descrip-
tion which he had given nine years before of
the pearly nautilus. It is thus recorded in the
journal : —

' M. de Blainville writes giving some slight
but satisfactory outlines of the anatomy of the

i8o PROFESSOR OWEN Ch. vi.

recently acquired French " Nautilus pompilius."
R. is very glad that this specimen should have
been examined in Paris, rather than by him again,
for it has fully proved the accuracy and value
of his description of the first specimen. The
position of the nautilus with regard to the shell is
now proved to be correct in R.'s plate, and De
Blainville, who, with one or two others, insisted
upon its being wrong, now says : " Je n'ai pas
hesite a reconnaitre, quoi qu'on en ait dit, que vous
avez parfaitement saisi les rapports de I'animal
avec la coquille." '

The following incident is recorded in the
diary : —

'February 26. — Went with R. to see Joanna
Baillie.^ Miss Maria Edgeworth was there.
We took Willie with us, who began to fidget after
he had finished his tea. Joanna Baillie said to
him, "Are you very tired of us.-*" and was
delighted to hear him answer honestly, " Yes." '

Of Owen's great affection for his son we have
constant evidence in his letters. Indeed, in
scarcely any letter written at this period to his
wife or sisters does he omit to speak of him.

'March 27. — Lord Northampton's evening
party. Richard very tired, and thought he would
not go, but about eight Dr. Buckland looked in,
bag and all, and said, " Oh, you had better come."
So after some dinner R. felt better, and they

' Poetess, and surviving relative of John Hunter.

J84I-42 HUNTERIAN LECTURES, 1841 181

Started off. He was glad afterwards he went, for
Prince Albert was there, and Mr. Gould brought
his pretty singing New South Wales parrots.'

Early in April Owen began his course of
Hunterian Lectures for the season. 'In 1841,'
he. writes, 'my Hunterian Lectures were on the
functions of the animal organs, and I combined a
review of the fossil remains of extinct animals
with the osteology of existing species.'

While he was lecturing we find him still
working at Part H. of his ' Odontography.' On
April 27, as the diary shows, the Introduction was
printed.

'May 4. — Home from lecture (Glossothe-
rium, &c.) about six. R. sat down at once to
make some gambits at chess, as after dinner he
had to play the President of the Chess Club, Mr.
Lonsdale. R. got one game, which was pretty
♦good considering.'

' 5//^. — R. detained by a Museum committee.
The candidates for the studentship were to have
pigs this time to work upon for competition. Mr.
Stanley thought that half a pig would suffice for
each candidate. R. remarked: "I think in the
present case, Mr. Stanley, we ought to go the
whole hog." '

' 1 2th. — To my surprise, R. came home at the
unusually early hour of three. It seems he had
been dissecting an opossum in spirit, and he felt
tired and sick. It was too far gone even for him !

i82 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vi.

Better after dinner, and went to work on a proof
— Marsupials.'

' i^tk. — Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte
here with one of his boys. I never saw a better
expression on anyone's face than on that lad's.
He listened most attentively to his father's con-
versation with R. The Prince is now very stout,
but has very good features and eyes, and when
the pleasant smile and eagerness fades from his
face he looks very Bonapartish. He told me
that this was his birthday, and that he was now
thirty-eight.'

' I'jth. — Lieut. - Colonel Charles Hamilton
Smith invited R. to stay with him at Plymouth.
It so happens that I know him, for he used to be
much at the Cuviers when my father and I were
in Paris.'

Owen also refers to this invitation in writing
at this time to one of his sisters : ' Cary and I,"
who have not journeyed together for a long time,
have accepted a kind invitation from Colonel
Hamilton Smith to spend the " Association
Week " at Plymouth with him. He is a widower
with daughters. We then think of visiting Mr.
Clift's county, Cornwall. We may perhaps spend
a few days with Sir Thomas Acland, whom I met
at breakfast at Sir Robert Inglis's the other
morning, and who kindly proposed it.' Owen
then, in answer to a question of his sister's, ' Why
the sea is salt,' says he will ask Whewell when he

1841-42 'WHY THE SEA IS SALT' 183

meets him in ' Association Week ' for an expla-
nation, and continues : ' There was, I believe, a
heathen speculation in regard to the problem you
have asked me to solve ; it was held that all water
was originally fresh, but on that day, when
Phaeton drove his father's chariot, poor earth
became so hot and terrified at his near approach
and irregular course, that she broke out into
profuse perspiration, the consequences of which
are still manifested in the saltness of the ocean.'

The following entries occur in the journal for
June and July : —

'June 2. — To the Botanical Gardens, Re-
gent's Park. As yet they are only laid out. A
perfect desert, no signs of greenhouses or hot-
houses ; one seedy-looking palm under a cover.
But there was a good band (2nd Life Guards).'

' "jtk. — Weber's " Euryanthe." Liston, the
surgeon, just in front of us. The music beautiful,
of course, but a ridiculous want of sense or interest
in the plot.'

' 2>tk. — ^Dr. Martin Barry came in from Jersey.
He brought two green lizards for me, and some
tadpoles (all dead but two).'

' 2)Otk. — To the Gardens, as R. wanted to see
the Cereopsis goose, who has a brood of Chinese
ducklings under her charge. We found her by
no means a fond or careful foster-mother. The
old goose is positively hostile, and bites and snaps
violently at the crown of their poor little heads.'

i84 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. VI.

July 7. — A sister-in-law of Sir John FrankliN
came to see me, bringing with her a thing which
she had been told was an unborn kangaroo. She
was hesitating about bringing such an " indelicate "
subject, to a gentleman, &c., &c., when I set her
mind at rest by assuring her that the kangaroo
had not -only been born, but had certainly lived
for some time, as I soon saw. She told me her
sister. Lady Franklin, had given it to her. As it
was a Microscopical night, R. was dining at the
Atheneeum.'

' 20th. — R. spent his birthday in going over
with my father to Kew, in order to examine the
collection of Hunterian preparations there, with
regard to their coming to the College. R. is
very busy now, preparing his " Report on British
Fossil Reptiles," Part II., which is to be read
in about a week's time at the meeting of the
British Association at Plymouth.'

On the 27th of this month Owen and his wife
started from London and arrived at Southampton
in the evening, where they took the boat to
Plymouth. The next day they both visited the
'Geological Section' of the British Association,
where they heard speeches from Sedgwick and
Dr. Buckland. On August 2, with De la Beche
in the chair, Owen read his ' Report on British
Fossil Reptiles,' speaking for two hours and a half.
Amongst his audience were Lord Northampton,
Sedgwick, Conybeare, Sir T. Acland, &c. After

1841-42 TOUR IN CORNWALL 185

the reading of the report, Dr. Buckland acknow-
ledged Owen's labours, and the interest with
which his report had been heard by the audience,
in very complimentary terms.

Writing to his sister from Plymouth (40 Park
Street), Owen says : ' My report gave such satis-
faction that the Association has voted me 250/.
for the expense of engraving the drawings, and
200/. more for another report.'

On the loth Owen lectured on Fossil Reptilia
at Falmouth, and on the 12 th he accompanied
Mr. Conybeare to the Lizard Point, afterwards
visiting St. Michael's Mount and Penzance.

But even in the midst of the keen delight he
always felt in new scenery and the beauties of
Nature, he still found time to devote to the living
creatures around him. He writes to Clift from the
Bath, Penzance, August 18, 1841 : 'I set off after
breakfast, with a teacup in my hand, to hunt for
objects for the microscope. Of course a bit of
seaweed gave me a world of objects, and among
them a minute transparent species of limpet,
studded with rows of iridescent azure-green spots,
apparently full-sized, but no bigger than 1 inch,
in which I have been counting the pulsations of
the heart ( 1 80 per minute), and watching the
currents in the veins, and seeing more of the
living machinery of the mollusc than I ever
expected to see in that class. . . .'

After leaving Penzance, Owen and his wife

i86 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. VI.

visited Bodmin, a place of special interest to both
of them, as being the birthplace and early home
of Mr. Clift. In a letter to Clift, dated Bos-
venna (Bodmin), September 8, 1841, Owen says :
' We arrived at this place, of equal interest to
us both, this morning. About two miles from
Bodmin we got out and walked up a long ascent
in the road, gathering blackberries off, probably,
the same bushes, or their " posteriors," as Mrs.
Davenport used to say, that you may have
climbed to reach in younger days. Arrived at
" Oliver's Hotel," a new construction, six years'
standing, and therefore since your time. After
dinner our first visit to Post Office, Town Hall,
and then to the church — a very handsome struc-
ture. First we visited the spot, ten yards to the
north-east of the tower, where a slight eminence
we fancied, close to the still open oblique path,
might indicate the tranquil resting-place of our
grandfather and grandmother. My next search
was for Betty Oliver, the sextoness, who keeps
the key of the church. Betty dwells in Cas
Street, and well she remembers when you helped
your brothers, that hard winter, to dig away the
snow from her mother's doorway and windows :
they were blockaded on their side of the way,
while yours was comparatively free. The Phari-
saical rogues have whitewashed the interior of the
church. . . . Mrs. Gilbert's and the poor little
infant's monuments we saw with interest ; also

1841-42 AT BODMIN 187

that of your old rector, John Pomeroy, M.A., &c.,
"who died in the desk of the church, while
preparing to celebrate divine service before the
Judge of Assize, August 17, 1813, aet. 61." In
the pews north of the pulpit we detected your
initials. Some lazy rogue, whose name they
suited, has added his surreptitious "surname ; but
the forgery is obvious— the William Clift who beat
all his contemporaries at print-hand has never been
surpassed. . . . We visited the site of your old
house, where the orchard once stood ; now a row
of prim cottages covers the ground at right
angles to the street. . . . We purpose to return
home on Saturday, nth, when the sun rises at
half-past five. On Sunday, September 12, Mr.
and Mrs. Owen hope to have the pleasure of
Mr. and Mrs. Clift and Master Willie Owen's
company to dinner at No. 6 Park Cottages, when
a long and most delightful tour through Cornwall
will be re-performed, with innumerable and most
rare adventures by land, rock, mine, and sea ; and
the character of divers amiable and hospitable
friends will J^e portrayed.'

On September 1 1 they returned to the Col-
lege of Surgeons. Owen was anxious to get the
remaining part of his ' Odontography ' off his
hands to some extent, although Part III. did not
appear till 1845. He writes thus to his sister:
' Yesterday, after Trustee meeting was over,
I had a chop and cup of tea, and then made

i88 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vi.

a fair start at the concluding part of my " Odonto-
graphy." . . :

The following entries occur in the diary for
the October of this year :—

' October 22. — R. with Mrs. Yarrell to see a
lion at the Surrey Gardens. It used to belong
to Lord Waterford, and ran loose in his grounds
in Ireland. As it not unnaturally became a
nuisance, he sold it. Cross ^ has also a black
leopard.'

' itth. — R. wrote to-night in answer to a letter
from Dr. Buckland, who sent him a pholas in its
hole, with the marks of the boring. Dr. B.'s
triumph will be short-lived. I can fancy him
rubbing his white nose as- I have often seen him
do, half in vexation and half in merriment, when
he reads the reply.'

About this time Owen and his wife saw a good
deal of Mr. and Mrs. Darwin, as the following
entries in the diary show : —

' October 31. — Mr. Darwin here to breakfast.'

' November 10. — With R. to Gower Street,
to see Mr. and Mrs. Darwin. Mr. ,D. had his
arm in a sling.'

' I'^th. — Went to see Gould's birds — not to be
imagined till seen. The great dragon lizard now
set up excellently. Strange that the Chinese
should have the idea of a creature so much like
it. After dinner this evening Mrs. Darwin, Mr.

^ Of the Surrey Gardens.

1841-42 A GIGANTIC SLOTH 189

Gould, and his brother came here for some
music'

The remainder of the year 1841 was spent by
Owen in collecting materials for his ' Report on the
British Fossil Mammalia' (British Association),
1842 and 1843. These reports were the basis of
his work, ' British Fossil Mammals and Birds '
1844-1846, which formed one of the beautifully
illustrated series on British animals brought out
by his friend Van Voorst.

At the beginning of 1842 Owen was working
upon his ' Description of the Skeleton of an Extinct
Gigantic Sloth {Mylodon robusius),' discovered
near the city of Buenos Ayres. The habits of
life of these extinct creatures were a complete
puzzle. Their teeth showed, by their simple
structure, that they lived on vegetable food, and
probably on the leaves or tender twigs of trees ;
their huge bodies and great strong curved claws,
Darwin remarks, ' seemed so little adapted for
locomotion that some eminent naturalists actually
believed that, like the sloths (to which they are
intimately related), they subsisted by climbing
back downwards on trees and feeding on the
leaves.' It was certainly a bold idea to conceive
even antediluvian trees with branches strong
enough to bear animals as big as elephants !
Owen conjectured that, instead of climbing on the
trees; they pulled the branches down to them,
and tore up the smaller trees by the roots, and so

igo PROFESSOR OWEN CH. VI.

fed on the leaves. With their great tails and
huge heels firmly planted on the ground like a
tripod, they could exert the full force of their
most powerful arms and great claws. The
mylodon was also furnished with a long tongue
like a giraffe's, which would help it to reach its
leafy food with the aid of its long neck. Owen
supported this conjecture of his by the following
argument.

He remarked that the particular skull he was
describing had two severe fractures, both of which
were longitudinal, not radiating like a smash in
an egg-shell. One had partially and the other
completely healed during the lifetime of the
creature. These fractures, he stated, could not
have been caused by blows from another animal,
for they were severe enough to have nearly killed
the mylodon, and would have, in that case, inevi-
tably left him an easy and unresisting prey to his
foe. But the mylodon had evidently got over
the first blow he had received, as the fracture had
healed. The probability was, then, that his habit
was to uproot trees for the purpose of feeding
upon their leaves, and once, when so doing, the
tree must have fallen with a crash upon his skull,
before he had time to move his huge carcass out
of the way, and that this fracture had apparently no
sooner healed than the same thing had happened
again. Now, the ' cranial organisation ' of the
mylodon was designedly modified in relation to

MEGATHERIUM AMERICANUM, Cuvier.

A great extinct ground-sloth from the Pampas of South America.
The subject of considerable controversy until the appearance of Owen's memoir.

About -h natural size.

1841-42 MEGATHERIUM AMERICANUM igr

its habits, having ' extensive air-cells introduced
between the external and vitreous tables of the
skull ' — it had, in fact, a double brain-case, and
must have often found the advantage of such a
possession.

' Certain it is that the habits of life, and the
conditions under which the mylodon existed,' did
render it liable to violent blows on the head, and
it was owing to its well-protected brain-case that
they were not, in this instance, death blows.

In the same memoir Owen included a paper
on the osteology, natural affinities, and probable
habits of the Megatheroid quadrupeds in general,
and by the kindness of Dr. Henry Woodward I
am able to give a figure of the Megatherium
americanum in illustration of the group.

'January 10, 1842. — A visit from Mrs. Fry
— or Elizabeth Fry, as the Friends call her — of
prison celebrity. She is sister to Samuel Gurney,
and is very like the portraits I have seen of her.
Not at all a difficult subject to paint — large, like
her brother, with small features and small eyes.
She left her carriage at the front gate, walking
up to the house without a bonnet, but with a silk
cap carried under her costume, which was of a
very transparent material. Her manners are
ladylike and kind, but, I thought, mildly tolerant
and patronising towards R. on the subject of his
scientific work. This is not surprising, consider-
ing how she has been f^ted abroad and literally

192 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. VI.

worshipped at home amongst the Friends, for,
though she is Elizabeth Fry, she is still human.
She promised to give Willy a book of texts of
her own compiling.'

On January 31, Owen went with Conybeare
to help to receive Prince Albert and the King of
Prussia at the Royal Society.

Owen was at this time occupied in preparing his
course of Hunterian Lectures, which was to con-
clude the series begun by him in 1837. Speaking
on the subject of this concluding course, he says :
' I intend this year to lecture on the Comparative
Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System,
and this will terminate the series which I began
in 1837.'

In giving a short review of his former lectures,
when the course for this year was concluded, he
adds : —

' I have the pleasure to see the friendly
countenances of some here present who have
patiently listened to the whole of this series of
lectures, and who may have discerned in it, not-
withstanding the long and frequent intervals, the
characters of a single and connected scheme of
instruction in Comparative Anatomy and Physio-
logy.' He then expressed his great regret that
the ' tenants of the gallery,' ^ to whom he was
most anxious to impart instruction, were only able

' The gallery of the theatre body of the theatre to the Coun-
was devoted to students ; the cil and members of the College.

1841-43 ' JENNY '

)93

to attend ' portions of the extensive subject, which
the fulness of its treatment compelled him to
divide amongst different courses of lectures.
Medical students,' he continues, ' have rarely time
to attend more than one or two seasons ; and I
fear that none have been able to serve with us
throughout over six years' siege* of the city of
physiological science founded by Hunter.'

The Professor then remarks on the importance
of the study of comparative anatomy to medical
students, and says that he is glad that fact is now
universally recognised. He advises that the first
few years of medical practice, ' in which there is
generally a period of leisure,' be devoted to
scientific pursuits, quoting Gideon Mantell as an
example of what may be done, ' for he has shown
that the researches and discoveries in geology and
palaeontology which have added so many honour-
able titles to his name are quite compatible with
the most extensive, active, and successful practice.'

After his concluding lecture of the season, his
wife writes: 'Full attendance at R.'s twenty-
fourth and last lecture. He felt naturally much
moved at giving his last address after so success-
ful a series.'

During the fine weather Owen and his wife
were both constant visitors at the Zoological
Gardens. Of their special favourite, Jenny the
ourang-outang, Mrs. Owen wrote : ' We saw
Jenny have her cup of tea again. It was spooned

VOL. I. o

194 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. vu

and sipped in the most ladylike way, and Hunt,..
the keeper, put a very smart cap on her head,
which made it all the more laughable. Hunt
told me that, a few days ago, the Queen and
Prince Albert were highly amused with Jenny's
tricks, but that he did not like to put the cap
on Jenny, as he was afraid it might be thought
vulgar ! '

In June, Owen went with his wife and child to
spend a few weeks with his sisters at Lancaster.
After visiting his old haunts, he returned alone to
London for about a fortnight, going from thence
to visit his friend Sir P. Egerton at Oulton
Park, Tarporley. On July 17, Owen writes to
Mr. Clift, giving a description of his occupations
there : —

' On Wednesday last,' he says, ' Sir Philip had
a grand battue of carp and eels, and in simula-
tion perhaps of the Emperor of the Russias —
Count Keyserling being his guest — tapped a
small lake. Lord Enniskillen and I amused
ourselves by wading up to our middles — he
having thereby an advantage — in the mud in
chase of great carp and pike and eels. The
carp shuffled across the mud like " dolphins
embowed," as the Heralds say ; the pike were
more easily caught, care being had of their teeth,
but the eels were slippery dogs. After landing
the best fish in tubs of water prepared for their
transport to .stews and ponds, and stranding some

1841-42 BATTUE OF CARP AND EELS 195

hundreds of bream, roach, and inferior fry, we
adjourned to a neighbouring mill to distribute to
the assembled villagers the commoner part of the
sport. The old people were first served with the
largest dace, &c., then those that had helped to
excavate and let off the water, and finally the
younger folks, lads and lasses, scrambled for the
rest. You may imagine Lord E. without coat or
waistcoat — shirt-sleeves rolled up, mud to the hips,
pitching the fish into the thickest of the active strug-
glers. I think everybody went off with pockets and
hats full. This ended, we proceeded to fish the
small river that had received the waters of the
pond or lake. Hundreds of eels had gone down
into it. It is overgrown with trees and brambles,
gurgling down a winding valley with corn and hay
fields rising on each side. Under the bosky arch
and into the stream waded my lord, with one or two
fisher boys with poles. They poked out the eels
from their hiding-places in the roots of the trees,
while Sir P. and I waded for them in the shallower
parts of the stream. Presently we saw the green
and yellow monsters coming, gliding stealthily down :
then our work was to entrap them in hand nets,
before they turned back again ; the attempt often
ended in a regular chase, the eel slipping through
our fingers half a dozen times. Then the roars of
laughter, with the Earl's hearty chuckle above all :
"Well done, eel!" "There's one gone up;" "Keep
the pole out' of the way. There's another " — all

o 2

196 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vi.

this in bright sunshine from ten till five. We
caught upwards of 200 eels, which were conveyed
to the eel cage. All th^ small fish — dace, roach,
perch, &c. — held a meeting the next day and sent
a vote of thanks for our timely interference and
deliverance of them from the crafty and preda-
ceous family which had so long tyrannized over
the stream.'

On leaving Oulton Park Owen joined his wife
and child again at Lancaster. There he went
the rounds with his old preceptor, Dr. Harrison,
in order to see the patients at Lancaster Gaol,
and to revisit the scenes of his early adventures
there. Before returning home to London, Owen
went with his family to Heysham, and, writing
from that place to Mrs. Clift (July 21), he says : —

' Five young urchins have been bathing under
my special care and guidance, ranging from Willie
the youngest — and who took his first dip under the
salt water most manfully — up through six years,
seven, nine and ten, the good-natured sons of our
host, all at home, holiday-time, and who volun-
teered to go to the rocks as soon as they heard of
my intention to bathe. I carried little Willie in,
dipped him and rubbed him well over with the
salt water. You may imagine the scene at com-
ing out. The habiliments of two or three of the
little folk tumbled confusedly together, and the
Professor head-nurse and sole nurse. I never
realized the complexity of a child's dress before :

1841-42 SEA-BATHING AT HEYSHAM 197

the Stays went on under the shirt, and the drawers
were put over the arms — as the Highlander served
his first pair of breeches. Then pins were missing
from collars and belts ; however, they all held
together till we got home again, and mamma has
the amusing task of setting matters to rights in the
next room .... andlisteningto the lively account
the young gentleman is giving of all that he has
so wonderfully and boldly undergone on this first
introduction to Neptune.'

Returning to the College of Surgeons on
August 2, Owen found a message from Thomas
Carlyle to say that he was anxious to make his
acquaintance. Accordingly, a week or two later,
Owen made his way to Cheyne Row, Chelsea.
After sending his name in by the servant, he was
shown into a room where Carlyle was having tea.
The ' tall man with great glittering eyes,' as Car-
lyle afterwards described him, made some general
remarks, but as the servant had not given his
name very clearly, Carlyle abruptly asked Owen
who he was. When he had modestly revealed
himself and had talked for some time, Carlyle
exhibited a good deal of interest, and expressed a
desire to be shown over the museum of the College
of Surgeons at an early opportunity. Accordingly,
the next day he came early in the afternoon, bring-
ing his brother with him, and they spent nearly
three hours in the museum looking at the speci-
mens which Owen described to them.

198 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vi.

' I have such a dread of the personaHty of an
author destroying in great measure his ideaHty,'
Owen said to his wife after Carlyle's visit, ' that I
am pleased to find in this case that it is not so
and that Carlyle proved to be, as far as I am con-
cerned, much what one could wish.' Carlyle was
always good friends with Owen, and described
him as one of the few men ' who was neither a
fool nor a humbug.'

It was in this month (August) that London
was disturbed by Chartist riots.

' On the 20th we were at a musical party at
Arthur Farre's, but had to come away early, as R.
was not at all sure that the Chartists might not
have taken it into their heads to attack the College,
it being a public and useful building ; but though
there was some cheering and much noise, there
was no rioting.'

On August 3 1 the diary continues : —

' Mr. Lyell here ; back from America. He was
highly gratified there, and brought an enticing
invitation to R., telling him it would be well worth
his while from every point of view ! '

In September 1842 we find Owen again at
Lancaster in order to attend a public dinner given
by the town in honour of Whewell and himself.
He did not go away without visiting his old
school and asking for a holiday. Writing to his
wife on the 1 5th, he says : —

' . . . I heard that old Beetham had had the

1841-42 PUBLIC DINNER AT LANCASTER 199

lads at the school just as usual and wouldn't give
them their holiday till I came to ask for it. So I
marched across the churchyard, opened the old
school-door, and was greeted by many eager young
■eyes as I walked up to the old magisterial dais,
and there, after greeting my old master, said that,
as Whewell and I had been scholars in old times,
it was but fair that those present should participate
in our day of rejoicing. Upon which the sanction
was given in the old grave tone, and up rose the
shout that I have often joined in as the urchins
rushed into liberty and open air. Mr. Beetham
and I then walked down to the news-room,
where many other greetings followed from other
friends.'

On September 17, 1842, he again writes to
his wife : ' I take up a happy pen this morning to
tell you that the dinner concluded to the highest
satisfaction of everyone who partook of it and all
who were concerned in it. I felt too happy for any
other feelings to interfere, in expressing and mak-
ing clearly understood all that I wished, and I
believe ought to have said, in acknowledging this
spontaneous and general tribute of affection and
respect from all ranks and parties of my townsmen.
As we walked in procession to the Town Hall,
Mr. Whewell and the Mayor, then the M.P. for
the town and myself, and the rest two and two,
we were cheered by all the humbler folks, and
when we sat down to a most princely banquet —

200 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vi.

the chairman, Whewell, and I, on three raised
state-seats at the head — we were greeted and com-
pHmented in a truly English and manly manner
by the ablest men to whom the proposing of the
toasts had been assigned. My duties were, besides
acknowledging my own toast, the proposing the
Lancaster Philosophical Society and returning
thanks for your health, which was proposed with
Mrs. Whewell's in a very neat speech by Mr.
Hornby. Lord Derby sent a fine haunch of
venison and a very kind letter, which Mr. Hornby,
his nephew, read, in which Lord Derby regretted
that his malady prevented his taking the chair to
join in doing honour to Whewell, with whom he
was not personally acquainted, and to Owen, whom
he had had the pleasure to call his friend for some
years past'

On September 19 Owen was back again in
London, and soon after had a visit from H. Milne-
Edwards, whom he had already met when visiting
Paris in 1830. M. Milne-Edwards was accom-
panied by his pupil, E. Blanchard. Dr. Martin
Barry was one of the party, and he brought Owen
some letters he had received from certain scientists
who had formerly opposed his (Barry's) views as
to the double spiral in muscles, and who were now
writing to him to acknowledge their acceptance.
As Owen had always upheld Barry's ideas on the
subject, the latter was anxious that he should see
the letters. About the middle of October, Owen

1841-42 MISS ANNA GURNEY 201

paid two visits which he thus describes in a letter
to his sister Eliza written on his return : —

' . . . I spent one pleasant day at a farm-house
at Stanway, a pretty Essex village, with John
Brown, a widower, retired on a decent compe-
tency, known the country round by the name of
" Mr. Pickwick," and the closest 'approximation to
Boz's famed type that I have yet had the pleasure
of being acquainted with. Like the founder of
the Pickwick Club, he solaceth himself with vir-
tuosoizing in antiquities ; but, as the immortal
Cuvier hath it, "of a higher order" than those
which amuse the F. A. S.'s. A good day's work I
had amongst honest John Brown's fossils,* whose
housekeeper at last grew a little testy at the
reiterated inquiries " if everything was proper and
comfortable for the Professor." My next centre-
point from which excursions radiated was the pre-
bendal dwelling of Professor Sedgwick, in Cathedral
Close, Norwich, where he is now, with his niece,
in residence. Heard him preach last Sunday —
the Cathedral crowded, as it always is, when his
natural and impressive addresses are poured forth.

I made a day's delightful excursion to

Cromer, to visit an old maiden lady [Anna Gurney],
who has been deprived of the power of using her
legs from early life, and wheels herself about in a

* His collections of pleistocene History Museum, South Ken-
land and freshwater shells and sington.
bones are now in the Natural

202 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vi.

kind of velocipede chair. She is a most cheerful
person, as you may well imagine when I tell you
that she has saved some men's lives during wrecks
on the coast near her cottage. I was told that on
stormy nights, when vessels are in danger, she
has wheeled herself through the pelting rain or
snow to the seaside, and animated the fishermen
and others by her example and rewards to exer-
tions, which otherwise they would have shrunk
from, but without which the wrecked seamen must
have perished. Her attractions to me were a fine
collection of the bones from the cliffs and shingle,
which she and a sister, now dead, occupied them-
selves in collecting, and which is now the most
instructive one in Norfolk.'

On October 24 Owen received a second speci-
men of the pearly nautilus. It was sent by Cap-
tain Belcher, and was in its original shell. This
enabled him to verify his former observations
on the subject. The ' Nautilus pompilius ' was
taken on the following evening to the Zoological
Society. Captain Belcher also brought with him
a babyroussa (a large species of hog from the
Indian Archipelago). ' He says that on the
voyage it ate up quantities of the men's brass
buttons and chin straps and is none the worse
for it.'

An entry on October 30 gives an idea of the
price of carriage at that time. A Lancaster friend
intended to do Mrs. Owen a kindness by sending

1841-42 CIVIL LIST PENSION 203

her six sacks of potatoes. She records sadly :
' We had to pay 2/. ^s. 6d. for carriage ! '

On November i Owen took the nautilus
which he had received from Captain Belcher to
the Linnean Society, and read a paper there on
the subject.

On his return to the CoUege'of Surgeons he
found, to his surprise, a letter awaiting him from
Sir Robert Peel, containing the intelligence that
he had advised the Queen to put Owen on the
Civil List for an annual pension of 200/.

Whitehall : November i, 1842.

' Sir, — It is my duty to offer advice to H.M.
in respect to the appropriation of a public fund
which is annually disposable and which may be
applied to the recognition and reward either of
distinguished public service or of eminence in
literature or science. The amount within my
control for the present year (so far as science is
concerned) is very limited. It does not exceed
300/. in the whole, but as I know no public claim
preferable to yours I shall have great satisfaction
in proposing to H.M., with your consent, that an
annual pension from H.M. Civil List of 200/.
shall be granted to you. Your acquiescence in
this proposal will not in the slightest degree fetter
your independence. I have not inquired what
are your political opinions, and am wholly unaware
of them. My only object in making this com-

204 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. vi.

munication to you is that the favour of the Crown
may be the most worthily bestowed, and in the
manner best calculated to encourage that devotion
to science for which you are so eminently distin-
guished.

' I have the honour to be, Sir,

' Your obedient servant,

' Robert Peel.

'Professor Owen, F.R.S., &c.'

' As soon as R. had digested Sir Robert's
letter,' Mrs. Owen writes, ' he put on his boots
again, and sallied forth to our good friend Justice
Broderip, and found him just going to bed.

' Mr. B. soon hurried on a dressing-gown, and
they agreed as to the manner of an answer, and
R. wrote it out when he came back. Before he
left, some sherry was poured out on the ground by
Mr. Broderip as a libation.'

'November 8. — A number of congratulatory-
letters. One from Lord Enniskillen and Sir
Philip. Curious that they should even write in
couples ! '

Amongst these letters of congratulation there
was one from Whewell, now Master of Trinity : —

' My dear Owen, — I was most glad to receive
the intelligence which your letter of this morning
contains. I hope the substantial part of the Pre-
mier's offer will do much, added to your other
resources, to place you in a condition to pursue
your researches at your ease ; and that the well-

1841-42 VISIT TO PEEL 205

deserved honour will have its weight in protect-
ing you from the molestation of those who might
otherwise not acknowledge your value. I am
afraid I cannot please myself with the thought of
having had much to do with this satisfactory event,
though I have mentioned your name in quarters
which may have considerable influence, but I am
quite content to rejoice in what is done, without
wishing to have any other concern in it than the

sympathy of a friend

' Believe me always
' Yours most truly,

' W. Whewell.'

'December i. — Dr. Buckland proposed that
he and R. should call on Sir Robert Peel this
morning. The Premier was out, but they were
asked to come again in the afternoon. They were
shown into the dining-room looking over a ter-
race on to the river. Over a quarter of an hour
was spent in conversation, which the Doctor
maintained chiefly. Sir Robert listening like a
clever man and occasionally making remarks.
He asked when he might see the museum, and
it was agreed he should come on Saturday in a
quiet manner.'

' yrd. — Sir Robert here with Dr. Buckland.
He stayed more than two hours, and was much
gratified by his visit. He always asked for the
names of the different fossils, &c., that he saw.'

2o6 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. VI.

' 2^th. — We paid a Christmas visit to Jenny
the ourang-outang. She certainly attempts speech
as far as her powers admit. When she is fond of
a person, she puts her long strong arms round his
neck, and makes a curious noise, like an attempt
to utter caressing words — opening the lips and
moving them as though trying to make certain
sounds. She produces a sort of a murmur, which
one might easily translate into kind expressions.
To-day she took a fancy, when out of her
cage, to look out of the window, and slyly crept
along till she got there under pretence of friend-
ship. Hunt pretended to be offended at her not
coming when he called, and she ran up to him,
put her arms round his neck, whispering to him
and kissing him, till he seemed to forgive her.'

1843-44 'BRITISH FOSSIL REPTILES' 207

CHAPTER VIL

1843-44

Further Evidence of the Existence of the ' Dinornis ' — Second Series
of Hunterian Lectures commenced — Member of the Commission
of Inquiry into the Health of Towns, 1843-46 — The British
Association at York, 1843 — Member of the Literary Club, 1844
— Lecture on the ' Dinornis' at the Royal Institution, 1844.

In January 1843 Owen wrote to his sisters on
the subject of the expenses, &c., connected with
his work on ' British Fossil Reptiles.'

' I am now hastening,' he said, 'the ddnoument of (
my first and probably last speculation in the book-
line — viz. my great work on " British Fossil Rep- i
tiles." The expenses will be 1,000/., of which the |
British Association have advanced 250/. I print
350 copies, and if I get 200 /^jj/m^ subscribers shall
clear my expenses, having 150 copies for interest
of money sunk and profits. I am sanguine enough •
to expect no loss. Meanwhile, lithographic and \
zincographic draughtsmen make frequent calls ;
upon my purse. The pension happily enables me
to meet these without difficulty or anxiety ....
Grace ^ has witnessed a fortunate fulfilment of one

' His youngest sister.

2o8 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. vii.

of my scientific predictions relative to the existence
or former existence — though within the memory of
man — of a huge bird in New Zealand. I had a
fragment of one of its bones three years ago and
ventured to build it up into " a heavier bird than
the ostrich but as big ; " it turns out, however, to
have been much bigger, and has excited, I think,
more interest than anything that has occurred in
my line. Dr. Buckland, to whom the bones of
said bird were sent, and who has made them over
to me, partly attributes his recovery to them.
He sent me a note this morning which he had
received from the Queen's Master of the House-
hold (Hon. Charles A. Murray), who says, after a
compliment to me : " The Prince has read your
letter with the greatest interest ; he desires me to
thank you in his name, and if any further dis-
coveries should be made in elucidation of the
mystery of this feathered monster, pray let me
again have the pleasure of hearing from you and
of communicating the information to His Royal
Highness." '

In this month Darwin wrote on the subject of
his work on ' Coral Reefs ' to Owen. In this letter
he refers to some preliminary papers of Owen's
on the 'Archetype,' afterwards developed into
his classic on the ' Archetype and Homologies
of the Vertebrate Skeleton,' which appeared in
1848:—

1843-44 DARWIN AND WOODCUTS 209

■ Down, Farnborough, Kent.

' My dear Owen, — ... I am much pleased
at your praise of my Coral volume, and am very
glad you recommend it to the notice of voyagers.
It would undoubtedly be far more suggestive to
any one who will really attend to the subject, but
for the generality, perhaps, the 'abstract in my
journal would be the most [useful]. ... I have
lately read with very great interest all the parts
which I could follow in your Report on Arche-
types, &c. You may remember that I suggested
explanations to the woodcuts. I am not a quarter
satisfied yet. You may with perfect justice say
you do not write for tyros ; but if ever you take
compassion (and there is no other claim) on
ignoramuses such as myself, you will in every
woodcut give the name to every letter or number
in your woodcuts, even if repeated 500 times,
for just that many iimes will it make your work
intelligible to the ignorant.

' Believe me,

' Yours very sincerely,

' C. Darwin.'

It was in this month also that a box arrived
from New Zealand containing a large assortment
of the bones of the dinornis, of which he had
already described the ' shaft of a femur' in 1837.

' On January 19,' the diary records, ' we
opened the long-expected box from New Zealand,

VOL. I. P

2IO PROFESSOR OWEN ch. vii.

which arrived to-day. Another is on the road.
My father, before going on to the Royal Society,
stayed to see it opened. We took out a pelvis, a
few vertebrae — two enormous — and the femur of
the gigantic bird.'

These bones were first sent to Dr. Buckland
by ' a zealous and successful Church missionary
long resident in New Zealand, the Rev. William
Williams.' This gentleman confirmed the tra-
ditional statement of the natives of New Zealand,
relative to the huge bones which they brought
him from time to time, in regard to the class of
animals to which they belonged.^ ' He has,
therefore,' Owen writes, 'a just claim to share in
the honour of the discovery of the dinornis, since,
while collecting and comparing its osseous remains,
he was wholly unaware that its more immediate
affinities had already been determined in England.'
Mr. Williams, in a letter to Dr. Buckland in 1842,
shows that he was not aware of the fact that
Owen had received and described the fragment
of the femur of the dinornis. ' By means of the
specimens first transmitted by Mr. Williams to
Dr. Buckland, and generously confided to me by
that distinguished geologist,' Owen continues, ' I
was enabled to define the generic characters of
the dinornis, as afforded by the bones of the
hind extremity. By the favour of a like disposition
of Mr. Williams's second and richer collection of

^ Extinct Wingless Birds of New Zealand, p. 76.

1843-44 DR. BUCKLAND AND DINORNIS 211

bones, and from three additional specimens con-
fided to me, evidence has been obtained of six
distinct species of the genus, ascending respec-
tively from the size of the great bustard to that
of the dodo, of the emu and of the ostrich, and
finally attaining a stature far surpassing three of
the once-deemed most gigantic of birds.'

Dr. Buckland writes thus to Owen from
Oxford on the subject of the dinornis bones : —

' . . . I am now going to write to Mr.
Williams, which I have waited to do until the
arrival of the second box in its full amplitude
of gigantic proportions, which has at length
happily taken place, and will, I trust, afford ma-
terials for a volume that shall be a fit pendant
to your " Mylodon robustus." The Premier and
his royal guest were astounded at the height
of dinornis. "Exactly," said Sir Robert, "the
height of this library," so he had a standard at
hand whereby to get an idea of sixteen feet,
Happy dinornis, whose bones and giant-strides
will not be unknown to posterity, carent quia vate
sacro. I think it right to desire you to select for
the College museum the most perfect and best
bones from the second box as from the first ; but
before I make over my property in the said bones
I reserve to myself the power to take such of
them as I may wish, either to Oxford to exhibit
at a meeting there, or to show them to Prince
Albert at any place he may wish to have them

212 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vii.

brought for his inspection, as he feels the strongest
interest respecting them. It may be difficuh for
him to come quietly to the College, but I shall try
to get this done if it will not excite jealousy
among your inmates, whose company would not
be desirable. ..."

The following entries then occur in the diary :

'February 2. — Richard to the Geological
Society ; he was persuaded to go to the " three
ones" (ill Jermyn Street), by Sir P. Egerton,
who fetched two foaming pots of stout, and brought
them in his own hands across to Richard, who
stood with the door-key, awaiting his arrival ! '

' I "jth. — Richard went before breakfast into
the museum to look at Mr. Scharf's enormous
diagram of the mylodon, which was suspended
from the gallery for inspection and criticism.
It is for Sedgwick. A visit from Mr. Darwin,
who has much improved in health. After his
departure, Mr. Brown, of Stanway, Colchester —
the veritable and original Mr. Pickwick, I do
believe — came in. He stayed to dinner.'

' 2<^th. — Mr. Pratt, the collector of belemnites,
here. A most interesting collection of portions
of this long mis-known fossil now in R.'s posses-
sion. The ink-bags, the striated portions of
mantle, and tentacles with hooks, all beautifully
clear. In the evening to Mr. Lyell's, taking
some music, and R. his violoncello in its great
green bag.'

1843-44 JOHN HUNTER 213

' 2%th. — Characteristic letter from Sedgwick,
asking us to hurry up Scharf with his drawing
by scratching him with a mylodon's claw.'

At the end of March Owen began his new
series of Hunterian Lectures. He describes the
scheme of these lectures in the following way : —

' When I was first honoured* by the Council
with this arduous and responsible office, it seemed
to me that the first obligation upon the Professor
was, to combine with the information to be im-
parted on the science of comparative anatomy,
an adequate demonstration of the nature and
extent of the Hunterian Physiological Collection,
and thus to offer a due tribute to the scientific
labours and discoveries of its founder.

'The system adopted by Hunter for the ar-
rangement of his preparations of comparative
anatomy was therefore made that of the lectures
which were to be illustrated by them ; and this
plan was closely adhered to until the whole of the
physiological department of the collection had
been successively described, and its demonstration
completed, in the course of lectures which I
delivered last year. It is, I believe, generally
known that Hunter had arranged his beautifully
prepared specimens of animal and vegetable
structures according to the organs, commencing
with the simplest form, and proceeding through
successive gradations to the highest or most
complicated condition of each organ.

214 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vii.

' These series of organs from different species
are arranged according to their relations to the
great functions of organic and animal life, and
the general scheme is closely analogous to that
adopted by Baron Cuvier in his " Lecons
d'Anatomie Comparee," and in the best modem
works on physiology.

' It has been a subject of much consideration
with me, having fulfilled, in one respect, the
obligations to the memory of the founder of the
collection, how to present the general principles
and leading facts of comparative anatomy with
most profit and utility to my junior auditors ; and
I trust that the plan which I propose to adopt for
the present course and that of next year will
enable me to give a complete view of the science
within that space, which shall not be less subser-
vient to the illustration of physiology than were the
preceding lectures given on the system • indicated
by the arrangement of the Hunterian preparations.

' It is very true that, by tracing the progressive
additions to an organ through the animal series
from its simplest to its most complex structure
we learn what part is essential, what auxiliary
to its office ; and the successive series of pre-
parations in Hunter's Physiological Collection
strikingly and beautifully illustrate this connection
between comparative anatomy and physiology.

' But it is by the comparison of the particular
grades of complication of one organ with that of

1843-44 HUNTERIAN LECTURES 215

another organ in the same body, by considering
them in relation to the general nature and powers
of the entire animal, together with its relations to
other animals, and to the sphere of its existence,
that we are chiefly enabled to elucidate the uses
of the several super-additions which are met with
in following out the series of complexities of a
single organ.

' But comparative anatomy fulfils only a part
of its services to physiology if studied exclusively
in relation to the varieties of a given organ in
different animals. The combinations of all the
constituent organs in one animal must likewise
be studied ; and these combinations, with the
principles governing them, or the correlations of
organs, must be traced and compared in all their
varieties throughout the animal kingdom. It is
in this point of view that I now propose to treat
upon the leading facts of comparative anatomy,
to discuss and demonstrate the organs as they
are combined in the individual animal, and, com-
mencing with the lowest organised species, in
which the combination is of the simplest kind, to
trace it to its highest state of complexity and
perfection through the typical species of the suc-
cessively ascending primary groups and classes
of the animal kingdom. In short, as my pre-
vious courses of Hunterian Lectures, agreeably
with the arrangement of the Hunterian Collection,
have treated of comparative anatomy according

2i6 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vil.

to the organs, in the ascending order, so, in the
present course, comparative anatomy will be con-
sidered according to the class of animals, and
also in the ascending scale.'

But in spite of his lectures and the continuous
researches with which he was occupied, Owen
contrived to find time for more public services by-
sitting on various commissions from 1843 to 1849.
On April 17, 1843, he was asked by Sir James
Graham, M.P. (then Home Secretary), to serve
on the committee of the Commission formed to
inquire into the best means of supplying large
cities with efficient sewerage, under the presidency
of the Duke of Buccleuch.

He continued to serve on this Commission of
Inquiry into the Health of Towns until 1846,
attending frequent meetings at various intervals.
The first meeting was held on June i, 1843,
at Whitehall. The report, which was issued in
1845, is signed by the following: Buccleuch,
Lincoln, Robert Slaney, George Graham, H. T.
De la Beche, D. B. Reid, Richard Owen, Robert
Stephenson, Lyon Play fair, and a few others,
showing the representative character of the Com-
missioners. Their work was by no means a
sinecure. Towards the end of the year we find
Owen making practical inquiries for the report.
The diary states that he ' went off one morn-
ing at nine o'clock to inquire into the state of
health of the men engaged in sewers, &c. He

1843-44 PUBLIC SERVICES 217

went also, accompanied by a police officer, into
some of the miserable lodgings in St. Giles's. When
he came back he was quite distressed at the misery
and filth he had witnessed.'

A few days later we find his attention directed
to the necessity of a reform in the matter of
slaughter-houses in London, althcfugh the Special
Commission on the Meat Supply of the Metropolis
and the State of Smithfield Market did not take
place until 1849.

He started off early one morning (we read
in the diary), in a dense fog, after breakfasting
by candle-light, ' with the desperate determination
to find his way to Whitechapel, having it in his
charge to examine the slaughter-houses there.
He succeeded in his task, and after a hard day's
work came back safe and sound, the fog having
lifted a little.' In the following week he went with
Mr. Hobhouse to Leadenhall Market. There he
saw Mr. Scales (butcher). ' Mr. S. says he is wil-
ling that the slaughtering should be kept out of
London if all butchers were made to do the same.
R. dined afterwards with Sir Robert Inglis. Had
Mr. Scales up here. R. in character of Com-
missioner and Inquisitor. Mr. Chad wick also to
help cross-examine.'

In May, Owen received a letter from Professor
Vrolich, giving an account of his own dissection
of the pearly nautilus, stating that he found all
the observations made by Owen confirmed. On

2i8 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vii.

June 12 Owen met Charles Dickens for the first
time, and a friendship commenced between them
which was always maintained. He met him at
the green-room of Drury Lane Theatre. The
occasion of their meeting is thus recorded : —

'May 12. — R. to Drury Lane Theatre, to see
H.M. pass to her box. A large and brilliant
assemblage there, who wandered about behind the
scenes, and when H.M. entered her box all stood
on the stage and joined the professionals in the
National Anthem. R. stood just behind Miss P.
Horton, who as prima donna was in the front
row, and quite close to the Queen. " As You Like
It" afterwards, by H.M.'s desire. Keeleyandhis
wife delightful in that and also in the concluding
farce, "A Thumping Legacy," which H.M. seemed
to greatly enjoy, R. was much gratified to meet
amongst many interesting people Charles Dickens,
in the green-room, and found him delightful.'

There is then an entry with regard to the
curious publication of Home's ' Orion : ' —

' Bought the new poem " Orion," for which
you may only pay the sum of one farthing. A
halfpenny or a larger coin refused. One person
may not have more than one copy of Home's
poem, and the bookseller. Miller of Oxford Street,
will not give change, even for a halfpenny.
Richard began the poem with little expectation
of being able to get through it, but very soon
changed his opinion.'

1843-44 MEETS SPOHR

219

The diary continues : —

'June 22. — R. to King's College. Prince
Albert to be received there by the Professors.
Mr. Wheatstone's experiment of firing a cannon
by the electric spark tried, the wire being laid
from Somerset House along the bed of the river
to the shot manufactory. Greit crowd at the
entrance of Waterloo Bridge.'

' loth. — To Mrs. Taylor's, to meet Spohr and
his wife. Spohr is a very tall, big man, with an
innocent-looking, rather inexpressive fair face,
and a hideous sandy scratch wig. I was told that
Spohr's second marriage had greatly offended his
Prince (Hesse-Cassel), who wished him to marry
some other lady. Met also Benedict and M. and
Madame Moscheles.'

The meeting of the British Association was
held in the August of this year at Cork, and
Owen attended it. In a letter to his wife, dated
August 17, he gives an account of his journey
thither : ' I was so lucky as to get a vacant seat
on the roof of the mail to Carnarvon [at Glou-
cester]. The ride is through a glorious part
of S. Wales. . . . We passed through two turn-
pikes that had been visited by the Breakers ; '
one was down, the posts having been neatly
sawed through, and the toll-house unroofed ; the
other gate, twenty miles farther on, was similarly
demolished, and the toll-house razed to the

ground.'

^ The Rebeccaites.

-220 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vii.

On this visit to Ireland Owen visited Water-
ford, the Gfoves of Blarney, Killarney, Glengariff,
Dublin, and returned to London by way of
Bristol, Gloucester, and Derby ; but the-whole of
his letters written during this tour are devoted to
the beauties of the scenery through which he was
passing. Before returning home he visited Lord
Rosse at Liverpool, and writes thus to Mr. Clift,
September 3 : —

' You may imagine a man with a natural turn
for mechanics with ample means of indulging in it.
He has not only planned and manufactured, chiefly
with his own hands, his stupendous telescope, but
also most of the tools and machinery required
for making it. He married, wisely, a lady of
congenial taste, the daughter of a civil engi-
neer, and, 'tis said, a better mathematician than
himself ... I spent a week at Killarney and
the picturesque neighbourhood with Murchison,
Phillips, Mr. Fox of Falmouth, and Forbes.'

Owen then joined his wife, who was staying
at Derby, and after spending a fortnight there
returned to his work at the College of Surgeons.

In September, Owen sent to the Rev. J.
Rowley, his godfather and former headmaster, a
copy of the first series of his Hunterian Lectures
(1837-1842), which had been published from notes
taken by William White Cooper and revised by
himself In Mr. Rowley's letter of acknowledg-
ment, dated from Lancaster, September 4, 1843,

1843-44 DEATH OF 'JENNY' 22r

after thanking Owen for his ' volume of most in-
teresting lectures,' he continues : ' They are the
more valuable to me as being the production of a
friend whom I have known from infancy, and
whose career in life I have observed with intense
admiration. I sincerely pray that Providence
will long protect and preserve your health and
life, not only for the sake of your family, but also
for your knowledge and skill in science, in which
you have with so much honour distinguished your-
self

About this time Mrs. Owen records the death
of their friend 'Jenny,' the ourang-outang at the
Zoological Gardens. ' It is a real loss to us,' she
writes, ' for we never missed paying her a visit
when we were at the Gardens.'

There are then the following entries in the
diary : —

'November 5. — R. sent round to Mr. Bro-
derip's to ask him to come and see a fine brain
stone now in the museum. R. met with it at a
dealer's, who has also a splendid specimen of Irish
elk. R. is very anxious that the College should
have them. Mr. B. was very much pleased with
the beautiful coralline when he saw it, and has
settled to buy it and present it to the College.
The dealer has done his best to spoil the coralline
by making it white with muriatic acid, and, of
course, making it smell horribly.'

' Y%th. — R. dined with the Geological Club,

222 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vii.

and after the evening meeting went to Jermyn
Street. Lord Enniskillen, Dr. Buckland, Mr-
Murchison, Dr. Fitton, Mr. Broderip, &c. Each
obliged to sing a song. Mr. Broderip put in the
chair, with Lord E.'s dressing-gown and a dis-
reputable old college cap. R. was " executioner.'"

This was nearly the last meeting of the merry
geologists at the 'three ones,' as 1 1 1 Jermyn Street
was called. At a later meeting this year Lord
Enniskillen was arraigned before their Court on
account of his intention of getting married. In
reply to ' a sly question in the corner ' of a letter
which he afterwards wrote to Owen, concerning
a smashed glass at the above entertainment, the
latter writes : —

' I declare, upon my honour, and call Justice* to
witness, that the glass was cracked about midnight,
just before our party broke up, in the most mys-
terious manner. I held it still in my hand, as
sober as 2. judge, and had merely placed it on the
table with a slight emphasis in harmony with
the sentiment which formed the soul of our last
libation.'

On November 23 a strange visitor came to
the College of Surgeons, in the shape of a' North
American Indian chief ' Richard had just come
in about six o'clock when there was a ring at
the bell and in another minute there suddenly
stalked in a magnificent, tall American Indian

'' Broderip.

1843-44 A RED INDIAN 223

chief in full dress — paint, necklaces, and tomahawk,

and a red mantle over all ; a fine plume of dried

red and black elk's hair on the top of his head.

I felt rather staggered, but endeavoured to show

no signs of it, and so asked the gentleman to sit

down in the arm-chair, which he did in a calm,

well-bred manner. He was accompanied by a

young gentleman, a native of Guernsey, but who

had lived some time among the Indians. We

were very soon quite at ease with each other. R.

said he would take them into the museum, and led

the way with a lamp. He showed them some of

the most striking objects there by the dim light

of the lamp. The Indian seemed willing to be

interested and was attentive, but not the least

astonished. When he had seen Q'Brien he made

a remark which, being interpreted, was, " This is

large." He also saw the dwarf and the elephant,

but was unmoved. I fetched Willy into the

museum to see him, and they shook hands most

ceremoniously. On returning from the museum

the chief seated himself, and we amused him

with pictures and such books as Mme. Merian's

" Insects," and, what chiefly gave him pleasure,

Willy's coloured plates of Natural History. He

recognised the different plates of animals, and

when we offered him the choice he was much

pleased with a leopard and chose that, saying he

would be glad to take it home with him. R.

ordered up wine, and the chief showed neither

224 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. VII.

dislike nor any other emotion on taking it. He
handled Mme. Merian's great folio with the^'
most perfect knowledge of how to use such a book.
No antiquary could have fingered or held a
valuable book with more care — not as if it were
something he was afraid of injuring through igno-
rance, but as if he knew its proper value. His
eyes glistened when I took down Lord E.'s bronze
armadillo from the mantel-piece, though he had
not thrown any look of curiosity towards it. When
I lifted up the shell of the animal and showed him
the two little ink-bottles in it, a shade of astonish-
ment passed over his face, but he quickly suppressed
it. His face was distinctly handsome : wide across
the eyes and cheeks, rather of a gipsy type, all the
face and limbs on a large scale. A bright red
spread over the cheeks and round the eyes, black
rubbed about the lower part of the face above the
mouth, and a row of six white spots down the
sides of the cheeks. His hair a brilliant black,
and clean. Mr. Robins, his attendant, said he was
scrupulously clean in his habits. With his plume
he was quite seven feet high. When we shook
hands he said " Goo-by," and stalked off wrapped
in his red mantle. R. then said that a friend of his
told him some days ago of this new arrival, and
said that he would get the chief to look in upon
him. However, R. thought no more of it till the
appearance this afternoon.'

Another visitor shortly afterwards came to the

1843-44 THE LITERARY CLUB 225

museum of the College of Surgeons — Miss Maria
Edgeworth. Owen had already met her at Joanna
Baillie's, and there she had expressed a wish to see
the collection.

' Miss Edgeworth,' Mrs. Owen writes, ' is very
small — nearer my own height than anyone I ever
met with, except, perhaps, Joanna Baillie. There is
little to choose between us ! It was evident that
my appearance caused exactly the same thought to
pass through Miss E.'s mind, as I was clearly not
at all the sort of person she had expected to see.'

' On December 21,' the diary continues, ' Sir
Robert Inglis came to say that he was commis-
sioned by the Literary Club to ask Richard to
become a member.'

Early in the following year (1844) Owen
received a note from Sir Robert announcing his
election into that club.

7 Bedford Square : February 2, 1844.

' My dear Sir, — When six weeks ago I men-
tioned to you the club dinners of the Literary
Society, and ascertained that it would be agreeable
to you to join us, I purposely abstained from adding
that, as I had thus obtained your assent, I intended
to act upon it forthwith. At the following meet-
ing, accordingly, I proposed you, and the Vice-
Chancellor of England seconded you ; and I have
now the gratification of informing you that you
were this evening — at a full meeting, including

VOL. I. Q

226 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. vii.

the Chief Justice Tindal, Baron Alderson, E)r.
Southey, Baron Rolfe, the Bishop of Lichfield,
Mr. Hallam — cordially elected.

' Believe me, my dear Sir,

' Very faithfully yours,

' Robert H. Inglis.'

Owen gives the following account of his first
dinner at the Literary Society in a letter to his
sister Maria : —

' I was at the Old Thatched House ten minutes
to six, just as Sir R. Inglis was going up the
stairs, and received a kind welcome from him.
The room, you may be aware, is famous for
Reynolds's finest portraits of the original members,
some of them in groups — one a beauty, the wel-
come back given to Cook and Banks after the
first voyage ; they are clinking glasses across the
table German fashion. The single portraits are
all in fancy costume. Our party, as far as I now
remember, consisted of Sir R. I[nglis] in the
chair, myself on his right as the new member,
Hallam on his left, next me Sir Geo. Staunton,
then Sir J no. Barrow of the Admiralty, two other
old gentlemen, and Dr. Southey as croupier.
Next Southey was Lockhart ; the others were
Sir J. Westmacott, Phillips the painter, and one
more. No judges ; all on circuit. I came out on
unicorns and mammoths ; Hallam discussed Lord
Derby's claims to the Duchy of Hamilton, which

1843-44 THE OLD THATCHED HOUSE 227

appear to be undeniable ; and then the conversa-
.tion merged into who now in England would be
nearest the throne through the Tudors, when
the Duke of Buckingham, through his mother,
direct from Harry VII., was held to be the
personage. ... At half-past ten we broke up.'

It was in this year that Owen "began his work
— now regarded as a classic — on ' British Fossil
Mammalia.' He originally intended to bring it
out in monthly parts, but finally determined,
acting upon Charles Lyell's advice, to issue it
every two months. An entry in the diary states :
' Mr. Van Voorst has agreed to the proposal
suggested by Mr. Lyell to bring the work out
every two months instead of one. Mr. Lyell
further said that one would have quite enough to
do to get the first number into one's head in the
two months' time, let alone one ; that it certainly
was so as far as he was concerned.'

With regard to the first number, Owen re-
ceived the following letter from Dr. H. Falconer : —

February 3, 1844.

' My dear Owen, — I have seen the first num-
ber of your " Fossil British Mammalia." You
are the Magnus Apollo in these matters — a whale
among the minnows — and those who come after
you will take your authority on trust, without
perhaps thinking it necessary to refer to the
originals in matters referring either to structure

Q2

228 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. vii.

or to the history of discovery.' [Then follows a
long discussion as to the date of discovery of the
first anthropomorphous remains.]

On February 2 Owen lectured on the di-
nornis at the Royal Institution. ' He had the
bones and diagrams of the dinornis fetched early
to the Institution, and after we had arranged
them on the table they made an exceedingly fine
show. Richard gave a very clear account, in his
characteristic style, of all that is at present known
on the subject. He made it interesting by dis-
cussing the reasons for believing that the different
genera of these apterous birds now known to us,
are only remaining types of a large creation as
proper to an early state of the globe. There was
a large and most attentive audience, notwith-
standing a great attraction on the opposite side of
the street in Mr. Buckingham's opening night of
his Association. Faraday had tea ready for R.
when his lecture was over, which was a true kind-
ness.'

Shortly after this lecture Sir John F. W.
Herschel wrote to Owen, protesting against his
spelling of ' dinornis,' as obscuring its derivation
from the Greek Beivos.

CoUingwood : February 14, 1844.

' Dear Sir, — ... I saw in the " Athensum "
some notice of your researches on the extinct
struthious birds and of the dinornis. May I be

1843-44 HERSCHEL ON THE WORD 'DINORNIS' 229

pardoned a criticism on this spelling ? The ety-
mology of this word and of Lyell's Ph'ocene and
Mzbcene rocks points out sl as the true spelling.
Now Lyell expressly rejects the e as contrary to
the analogy of the English language. The thing
itself appeared to me at the time only a lapsus,
but as you have followed his example it is time to
protest. The French, who never learn Greek
and have no notion of what Isivbs means, will
from our spelling pronounce it d^^nornis. . . >.
' Yours very truly,

'J. F. W. Herschel.'

Owen defended his spelling ' dinornis ' by
suggesting that if the spelling ' deinornis ' were
adopted, people would be just as liable to pro-
nounce it ' deenornis ' in English, by the analogy
of such words as ' receive,' &c.

The following entries then occur in the
journal : —

' February 8. — The new range of Carnivora
houses in the Gardens looks very comfortable, and
the animals seem to enjoy their improved situa-
tion. There is now a splendid Arctic bear — it
only cost 30/. Poor Hunt (Jenny's keeper) now
has the young lioness and her blind foster-brother
the dog to look after. He said to me that he
would " far sooner have his poor Jenny." He was
so much cut up about her death that he could
hardly pronounce her name.'

230

PROFESSOR OWEN CH. Vll.

' (^th. — Mr. Bransby Cooper cannot begin his
lectures as announced, owing to some bereave-
ment. This brings R.'s lectures at once upon
him ; but he seems rather glad of it, as they will
be the sooner off his mind.'

' I (^tk. — A gentleman came and left a present
for R. in the shape of a guinea, which was
affirmed to have been in the possession of John
Hunter. Unfortunately, upon examining the
guinea we discovered that it was coined in 1 798 \
John Hunter died in 1793.'

We then have an account of Owen's first
dinner at Sir Robert Peel's, in a letter which he
wrote to his sister Catherine, dated March 10,
1844. 'It was my first visit,' he remarks, 'but
not my first invitation.' Among the guests
assembled, twenty-five in all, he mentions the
American Minister (Everett), Mr. Charles Barry,
Sir B. Brodie, Mr. Charles Eastlake, Wilson
Croker, and the Dean of Westminster (Turton).
' A quiet sort of conversation with one's neigh-
bours, which after dinner became more general,
and merged at last into instances of very old
people. Sir Robert said he canvassed, at the last
election, an old lady who remembered the Scotch
rebels at Derby, and that he had ordered the
Queen's bounty to be given to an old Highlander
who fought at Fontenoy. Croker slyly added
that that was the way to find out many old soldiers
who would remember that battle, and he argued

I

1843-44 DINNER AT PEEL'S 231

that under the present registration system the
instances of people passing a century would be
much diminished. . . . Before dinner Sir Robert
informed me that he intended to apply 2,000/. in
aid of the publication of the Natural History
collected in the late expedition to the South Seas,
and that he wished to be favoured with my
opinion on the best mode of applying it to that
purpose. ... I shall communicate in writing my
conclusions.'

Not long afterwards, Owen describes to his
sister Maria the occasion of his meeting the King
of Saxony at Sir Robert Peel's : ' Sir R. Peel
will be very popular in Germany when they
hear of the nature of the party he invited to meet
the King of Saxony — not the great by birth and
wealth, but the representatives of the literature
and science of the day. It was a proud and
gratifying event to me, I must confess, to be in-
cluded in the dinner list. There was a large
accession to the evening party, which included
Whewell, with Murchison, Garrett, Sir Wm.
Hooker, Brodie, and Lawrence [Sir Thomas], &c.,
&c. At the dinner . . . were Rogers, Hallam,
Sydney Smith, Lord Northampton, P.R.S.,
Bishop of Norwich, P.L.S., Dr. Buckland, Robert
Brown, and myself; the rest were composed of
His Majesty and suite. . . . Brown and I went
together, and arrived about five minutes after the
half-hour ; Hallam and another were there, and

232 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. vii.

the rest soon followed. We had a very gracious
reception, and I had time for a little conversation
with Lady Peel. . . . About ten minutes to eight
a servant came and whispered to Sir Robert, who
then left the drawing-room with Lady Peel, and
soon returned walking backwards into the room
followed by the King and his suite. We fell into
a large semicircle, and Sir Robert introduced us
one by one to, the King. He addressed a few
words in French to each. He told me how much
his physician, Dr. Carus, had been gratified by
my attentions at the museum, and I replied by
observing on the high value which we placed
upon Carus's discoveries. . . . We broke into
smaller groups, I soon joining Carus, who was
introduced by his desire to Buckland. . . ^
Sydney Smith and Buckland soon began to grow
jocular, and opened on me about the big-bird.
"Ah!" said S. S., with reference to some re-
mark on my joy at the safe arrival of the box
from New Zealand, "that was Owen's magnum
bonum." > . . The evening company had begun
to assemble, and the rooms were soon filled by
all the names in science and art. I saw Edwin
Landseer, Eastlake, and Sir J. Rennie. . . .'

The following extracts from the journal may
serve as examples of Owen's ordinary occupations
at this time : —

'March 14. — R. at the day meeting of the
Royal Society. Enlivened the evening when he

1843-44 THE PICKERSGILL PORTRAIT 233

got back by reading Chadwick's " Report on
Burials." '

' 19^?^. — R.'s introductory lecture. Many fa-
miliar faces in the audience. The usual dose
before lecture, which was given without notes.'

' April 4. — Miss Edgeworth came to take
leave before going back to Ireland. R. was
making ready to go in to lecture when she came
in, but he had time to stop and have a talk with
her. She admired greatly the professorial gown
with its red silk.'

' \oth. — R. drew the outline of diagram which
I am to colour for to-morrow's lecture. After-
wards he dissected a chimpanzee. Willy watched
his father dissecting till he himself smelt like a
specimen preserved in rum.'

' \6th. — Mr. Broderip, Dr. Arthur Farre, &c.,
to dinner. Microscope and music followed, and
we finished up by singing glees till nearly one
o'clock.'

' 26th. — R. went this morning at 7.30 to sit the
second time to Mr. Pickersgill. Mr. P. came to
lecture last week, to get an idea of R.'s attitude,
&c., as he spoke. He is to be in the act of
lecturing, holding the dinornis bone.'

' 2']th. — To the Royal Institute to hear
Faraday lecture on " Expansion by Heat," illus-
trated by most interesting experiments.'

' May 3. — After a hard day's work, R. deep in
" Martin Chuzzlewit." My father came in before

^34 TTROTESSOU OWEN CH. vil.

going to the Royal Society, and talked to R. with-
out mercy ; but R., whose thoughts and attention
were so entirely given up to Mrs. Gamp and
Jonas, could only answer at random. As soon as
my father was gone, we laughed over Mrs. Gamp
till bedtime.'

'May 6. — R. helped to draw up, and gave
a finish to the first Gwydyr House report on
Health of Towns.'

' I'jth. — R. to Mr. Pickersgill after breakfast.
They spent the rest of the morning together, as
R. wanted to see the dwarf, General Tom Thumb.
Dr. Hamel here at eleven. Went into the
museum with him, and he poked about in his
usual way. He is going to be the bearer of R.'s
dinornis to St. Petersburg, much to his delight'

Among the curious applications frequently
made to Professor Owen, there was none, perhaps,
more strange than a letter he received from a
firm of surgeons near Bath on May 17. After
apologies for troubling him they write : —

[1844.]
' We have teen for a few days actively
engaged embalming the remains of the late
William Beckford, Esq., of Fonthill Abbey, a
gentleman of family and fortune. [Here follows
a rough sketch of the process, which consisted in
injecting the vessels with an antiseptic, treating
the viscera by Dr. Baillie's process and covering

.1843-44 CHARGE FOR EMBALMING 235

the body with an antiseptic composition and
bandages.] Will you oblige us by giving us your
opinion what we ought to charge ? We are
entirely at a loss to know the value, with a family
of such wealth, of our process. It has never
been done in the West of England.'

From a memorandum on the letter, such as it
was the custom of Professor Owen to make, we
gather that he 'recommended 105/.,' a reply for
which the firm ' sincerely thank ' him.

We then find Owen again attending Faraday's
lectures at the Royal Institution, as the following
extract shows : —

' To Faraday's lecture, which was interesting
as usual. Saw Mr. Lyell, Sir Charles Lemon, &c.
Mr. Guillemard was there, and was sleeping
blissfully when Faraday began. He went on
napping and bobbing his head till there was an
experiment which made some little explosion,
which woke him up with a start- He sat look-
ing severely at Mr. Faraday for the rest of the
lecture.'

' 25M. — Sir P. Egerton here. He said he
was very sorry not to have been in the House
last night, as something was said by Wackley
about pensions, and Sir Robert Peel answered it
in a speech which was highly favourable to R.'

' 2<^th. — In looking over an artist's drawing of
a great fish's skeleton in the library, R. noticed
horse's teeth in some of the sketches ! '

236 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vii.

'June 5. — R. has had the news that he will
very likely get a recent hippopotamus to dissect.
He is much pleased.'

' Zth. — To Mr. Faraday's last lecture, and a
most delightful one, on flame, spirit, and salt, &c.
A short, feeling address to the audience. Place
crammed. Had a chat with him afterwards. R.
delighted Willy and a little friend of his by lifting
them both up at once on his stick and slinging
it across his shoulder, like men carry rabbits.'

' 26M. — R. to a Royal Society meeting, to
debate on the subject of bringing out Dr. Fal-
coner's fossils.'

This entry refers to the fauna of the Sewalik
Hills, east of the Ganges, which were first dis-
covered in 1834. Falconer, assisted by Cautley,
Baker, and Durand^ unearthed a sub-tropical
mammalian fauna, unexampled for richness and
extent in any other region then known. In 1844
a committee was formed, of which Professor
Owen was an important figure, to memorialise
H.M. Government to make a grant of 1,000/.
for the purpose of arranging, displaying, and
describing these important collections, which at
that time were housed in the British Museum
and the India House. The enlightened Premier,
Sir Robert Peel, responded to the appeal, and the
wishes of the memorialists were carried out.
The following letter from Dr. Falconer bears on
the subject : —

1843-44 SIR JOHN FRANKLIN 237

23 Norfolk Street, Strand : June 4, 1844.

' My dear Owen, — On Saturday next at 9 p.m.
I am to give another say at the Asiatic Society,
on the general bearings of the Sewalik fauna —
geographical, climatal, and geological, &c.

' I want to make the occasion a means of
acting on the Court through a public expression
of opinion, to take up the publication of the
Sewalik fossils, and your presence as the leading
head in comparative anatomy would be very im-
portant aid. Can you afford an hour to undergo
another infliction ? I shall be done by ten o'clock,
and there will be a discussion at the end.

' Forbes tells me that you went last time
prepared to have spoken, but the late" hour and
Lord Auckland:'s omission to start a discussion
left you no opportunity.

' Yours very truly,

' H. Falconer.'

On June 29, 1844, he writes to his sister
Catherine : ' I dined last night at the Geological
Club, and sat between Sir John Franklin and
Dr. Buckland. Sir John had just returned from
his government at Van Diemen's Land. I have
been indebted to him for several rare beasts from
that island, sent in spirits for dissection. In the
course of conversation I found that he had been
in the battle of Trafalgar, midshipman in the
seventh ship of Lord Collingwood's line. His

238 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. vii.

captain was killed and he was scratched, but not
bad enough to go into the list. Cary and I went
last night to a brilliant party at Mrs. Simpkinson's
(Lady Franklin's sister), to meet there Buckland,
Babbage, Sir H. Ellis, Schomburgk, the traveller
from Guiana, Count Strelingkski [Strzelecki],
the traveller from Australia, and all manner of
notabilities and their wives and daughters, and
the last wife (I think the seventh) of Lord
Edgeworth, and her son. ... I have launched
No. 4 of the " Brit. Foss. Mamm." and my
papers on "Dinornis" and "Belemnites" are both
out. ... I intend, you may rely on it, to read
" Coningsby ; " but no time now — am at it at
6 A.M., as in the busy times of last year. I signed
and sealed the Report No. i to Her Majesty on
Health of Towns yesterday.'

Amongst the ' rare beasts ' to which Owen
refers as having been indebted to Sir John
Franklin, the following are mentioned in the
diary, which continues : —

'July ID. — A collection of birds from Van
Diemen's Land and Australia. One apteryx
skin. A fine Van Diemen's Land native skull,
with teeth beautiful. This Lady Franklin
brought especially for R., and he carried it to
the coach in his white silk handkerchief, to the
amusement of sundry.'

' 12th. — Mr. Barlow came, and kept me in
close conversation over an hour. Amongst other

1843-44 A 'MOA'S' HEAD

zsg'

things, he has it at heart to get R. to give
the Christmas course of lectures at the Royal
Institute.'

'29//^.— Mr. and Mrs. Paget, Mr. A. Gries-
bach, Mr. Cooper, &c., here to look at the
moa's head (so-called), just arrived. After so
much expectation and such fears ' for its safety
after its arrival, it was perhaps a little trying to
find that this enormous head proved to be nothing
more than the skull of a seal. A bit of a
dinornis skull was thrown in.'

'August 9. — Went to see "Martin Chuzzle-
wit" dramatised. As we went to the pit, whilst
waiting there R. corrected a proof, and did some
more before the curtain went up. Upon the
whole a poor show, but Keeley's Mrs. Gamp
most excellent, Mrs. Keeley as Bailey good.
Nadgett also well done.'

On August 10, Owen saw his wife and child
off to Dover. He had so much on his hands at
the time that he could not do more than pay
them flying visits. His extraordinary capacity
for work is continually shown in his letters. In
writing to his sister Eliza on August 20, he says :
' I had pledged myself to complete my catalogue
for the meeting of Trustees in August, and,
through labour early and late, and a good printer,
who sometimes knocked off eight quarto sheets
in one week, I was able to have the copy com-
plete on their table last Saturday week. I have

240 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. VII.

since written and sent to press No. 5 of " Brit.
Foss. Mammalia," and am now engaged in
completing my " Odontography." I wish I could
finish it before leaving London. To divert my
thoughts and unbend the bow, I ran down to
Dover last Friday by rail, and found dear Gary
on the beach with Mrs. Soulby listening to the
band, and Willie digging away in great force
amongst the shingle. I stayed Saturday, Sunday,
and Monday, and arrived here to-day about an
hour ago.'

On August 24, 1844, in a letter to his wife at
Dover, we see Owen as the bachelor in charge :
' I was with Hobhouse inspecting Whitechapel
again on Thursday ; discussing Indian skulls to-
day with little Schomburgk. Bottled off the
Tinta yesterday ; three dozen and four bottles to
my share. All the carpets are now up, and the
charwoman comes on Monday.'

To his wife, still at Dover, Owen writes on
September 16 a piteous appeal that she will inter-
fere with his washerwoman, who hashad, 'above
a fortnight, a valuable assortment, without any
symptoms of a return ;' and again, on September 19,
he says : 'Mrs. Wright has volunteered to go to
the laundress's this morning, being in a state of
righteous indignation. Just as I had commenced
my first cup [breakfast], solacing myself with a
chapter on German poets, Mrs. Wright, in answer
to a bell, entered with a gloomy, awe-struck expres-

1843-44 PUTRID PENGUIN AND TOBACCO 241

sion, announcing in a whisper — a Frenchwoman !
So I had Madame Power instead of Goethe, and
heard again the whole history of Argonauts and
all the concomitant misfortunes, to which I sub-
mitted with great patience, finishing in the intervals
of explanations my herring and toast. . . . They
are painting — overhead — the ceilirfg of the library,
having done the same to the large room, and the
house is redolent ! However, I fight against it
with counterblasts of putrid penguin ^ and tobacco.'

As Commissioner of the health of towns,
&c., Owen was deputed to report on the state
of his native town, Lancaster. While there in
September, ' busily occupied ' with his survey of
the town, he writes to Clift on the 28th : —

' . . . Chadwick dined with us last Monday,
and we settled the plan of survey of the state of
the town, in which I have been busily occupied,
with the hearty co-operation of all the most intelli-
gent medical men and builders. I found only the
present Superintendent of Sewers rather stiff; he
is a stout man with goggle eyes, and had a beard
of three days' growth. I give you a specimen of
one of his answers. To a query why they had not
adopted the oval form of sewer, which had been
formerly made in one street, but not in later-made
sewers, which had the old square shape, he said,
" We never adopt nought " ' !

' ' On the Morbid Appear- of the Penguin ' {Aptenodytes
ances observed in the Dissection forstert). Proc. Zool. Soc.

VOL. I. R

242 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vii.

Before attending the meeting of the British
Association at York, Owen ' spent another busy
week in Lancaster, inspecting all the abodes of the
poor and taking notes of the worst cases which
admit of relief by better regulations ; made myself
acquainted with the present drainage of the town
and its water supplies, and leaving instructions to
architects for improvement plans and their ex-
pense, and to registrars and doctors for tables of
mortality and disease.'^

Richard Owen to his sister Eliza

South Hetton : October 4, 1844.

' The success of the York meeting has com-
pletely settled the question of the continued ex-
istence of the British Association. . . . Sedgwick
told me that the idea I had thrown out in my
speech on a new geographical partition of the
continents of the earth, in accordance with the
extinct animals found in them and other grounds
which I have not room for, was good and new.'

During October 1844 Owen was on and off
at Lancaster for the purpose of collecting materials
for his report on the town. In the middle of the
month his wife returned home, to find ' five boxes
of bones in the hall, and the house free from the
smell of paint and penguin.' F'our boxes of these

" To hisjwife, October i, 1844.

1843-44 BIRTH OF KANGAROO 243

bones were from New Zealand and one from
China. Owen had no lack of material to examine
at this time, as the diary shows : —

'November i.— R. to the London Docks, to
look at nine boxes of bones from America. In
the evening hard at work on the " Mammalia." '

' bth. — Mr. Warburton called {o offer R. the
presidency of the Geological Society. Obliged to
decline, as he had not the time to give to it.'

' \&^tk. — R. received two letters from Sydney.
A man called Leichardt sends the lower jaw of
a great kangaroo-like extinct animal. Also inter-
esting letter from Lord Derby. A kangaroo at
Knowsley has been watched till the matter so
long in doubt is cleared up. She was seen taking
the new-born tiny kangaroo in her fore-paws and
putting it in the pouch.'

' 2 1st. — R. to the London Docks, to fetch away
what there is of the tail and head of the glyptodon.
The head, unfortunately, is very imperfect, though
the tail is good.'

' December 3. — This evening the box of
diprotodon bones came from Herr Leichardt.
We opened it and found a vertebra, a beautiful
half-jaw of a young animal, &c.'

' 4//I. — R. to his cutter-out^' with some very
extraordinary bones from Africa. Two heads of
an animal resembling a lizard but with huge tusks
from the upper jaw. Going to have them picked

' The mason who cuts the fossils out of the stone, &c.

R 2

244 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. VII.

out ; then drawn, cast, and coloured, and then to
make some sections. R. delighted with them.'

' loth. — R. not well, so he lay on the sofa with
his fossil heads about him, whilst I wrote from
his dictation. Mr. Edw. Forbes came in to
name Mr. Green's fossils, and smoked a cigar
which R. keeps in the Australian skull — the one
which the natives used for carrying water, and
has a band of dried grass attached to it for the
purpose of carrying.

' Mr. Scharf all this time in the library drawing
the glyptodon's skull.'

' i^th. — At Sir Robert Peel's, Drayton Manor,
on Saturday, 14th. Bishop of Chichester, Mr.
Wheatstone, Dr. Lyon Playfair, Mr. Stephenson,^
&c. Saw the business of the Commission (Health
of Towns) brought to light there. Sir Robert had
his tenants to dinner to meet the scientific gentle-
men, inorderto discuss some matters of agriculture.'

In a letter to his sister Maria, written from
Drayton Manor, December 16, 1844, Owen gives
an account of his visit, and tells the following
anecdote of the Bishop of Oxford (Richard
Bagot) on the occasion of the investiture of Louis
Philippe with the Order of the Garter : ' On
that day, after dinner, at Windsor Castle, the
King of the French sent his regards to the Bishop,
who approached him, when the King of the
French said : " Sir, I was much moved by the

^ Robert Stephenson, the civil engineer.

1843-44 COLD BOILED BEEF 245

admonition you addressed to me on receiving the
Order of Knighthood this day." The Bishop
replied that most of the service of our Church
was remarkable for its meaning and impressive-
ness. "Yes," said Louis Philippe, "but I was
struck by your charge against entering into war."
" Into unjust war," replied the Bishop, repeating
the words of the admonition. " True," rejoined
Louis Philippe, " but I hold all war to be unjust."
. . . We met this morning for breakfast in Sir
Robert [Peel's] private breakfast-room. ... I
sat next the Bishop [of Oxford], and asked him
whether he would choose King's College or
Westminster for a boy. He said, " I advise you
to inquire well before you take Westminster,"
and recommended Harrow or Charterhouse, but
Harrow best, as having a very good master and
good air. The Sunday papers came in, and the
Bishop drew my attention to Sir R.'s earnest
perusal of the " Examiner." " You see," he says,
"hereadsallsides!" . . . This morning (Tuesday)
Buckland and I got in a good word for C. W.
Peach, who will no doubt get promotion in con-
sequence. ... It came on to rain, and as I had
luckily packed up my microscope I brought it
down, and, a propos to the question from Lord
Villars why cold boiled beef sometimes shines
like mother-of-pearl when cut, I prortiised to
show him the fine transverse lines on each com-
ponent fibre of the flesh, which produce that

246 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vil.

appearance by their action upon light. A slice
was ordered from the round, and the microscope
unpacked and mounted in the drawing-room. . . .
I then showed the globules of the blood and ex-
plained how they united together to form the
fibre ; the party round the table consisted of
Lords Villars and Aylesbury, Drs. Buckland and
Playfair, and Messrs. Stephenson and Wheatstone.
Whilst we were in the midst of the exhibition
and discussion. Sir Robert entered the library and
joined us ; they began to explain what we had
been seeing, and he sat down to examine the
objects . . . He seemed much interested in the
subject, and said he must bring Lady Peel to see
them. . . . After [lunch] there was a unanimous
adjournment to the microscope again, and great
amusement was occasioned by examining the
blood globules of the different gentlemen. . . .
Sir Robert (he always devotes from one to four
or five in his study) brought back a bottle of
thawed pond water to see if it contained any
living infusoria, and was delighted to find the
first drop taken up by the point of a pencil
swarmed with them, gliding about in the field
of view. . . .'

The interest which Sir Robert Peel derived
from Owen's visit is shown in the following letter
which he wrote to Dr. Buckland : —

' You saw the portrait of Cuvier, and know
that I am building a gallery for the reception of

1843-44 OWEN'S PORTRAIT FOR DRAYTON 247

the collection which I have formed of the portraits
of the eminent men of my own time. I should
very much like to have, as a pendant to that of
Cuvier, the portrait of Professor Owen.

' My demand, of course, is only upon the time
of those whom I can prevail upon to sit for me,
but it is a heavy demand upon one so fully occu-
pied as Professor Owen.

' I am unwilling to write to him directly, for
his kindness might lead him to acquiesce in a
request on my part which may be inconvenient
to him.

' Do you think he could spare the time to sit ?
He can without hesitation answer you if you will
write to him.

' I should ask Pickersgill, who painted Cuvier,
to paint the pendant.'

This suggestion was acted upon by Buckland,
and the picture was ultimately added to Sir
Robert Peel's gallery at Drayton. Sir Robert
was anxious that Owen should be painted in a
sitting posture, ' whereat poor Pick, was troubled,'
Owen writes, ' as sitting will not suit the subject
as well as standing, on account of the robe.'

248 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. viii.

CHAPTER VIII

1845

Owen's Opinion of the 'Vestiges of Creation' — His Descriptive
Catalogue of Fossil Mammalia — Election to ' The Club ' —
Refusal of the offer of Knighthood — Visit to Turner the
Painter — Meeting of the Italian Naturalists at Naples.

A REMARKABLY advanced scientific book ap-
peared in the year 1 844, entitled ' Vestiges of
the Natural History of Creation.' ^ It was
published anonymously, and for forty years the
secret of its authorship was unknown. The
book was variously ascribed to Thackeray,
Lady Lovelace, Sir Charles Lyell, George

^ The author of the Vestiges not of any immediate or personal
of Creation gave a sketch of the exertion on the part of the
geological history of the earth, Deity, but of natural laws which
followed by Considerations on areexpressionsof His will;" the
the Origin of the Animated whole train of animated beings,
Tribes, and endeavoured to show from the simplest and oldest, up
' throughout the geological his- to the highest and most recent,
tory strong traces of a parallel are, then, to be regarded as a
advance of the physical con- %m^%oi advances of the principle
ditions and the organic forms ; ' of development, which have de-
'that the construction of this pended upon external physical
globe and its associates, and circumstances, to which the
inferentially that of all the other resulting animals are appro-
globes of space, was the result, priate.'

i84S 'VESTIGES OF CREATION'

249

Coombe, Sir Richard Vyvyan, and even Prince
Albert, but one of the depositories of the secret,
Mr. Alexander Ireland, in a lecture delivered
before the Manchester Literary Club in April
1884, stated that it was entirely from the pen of
Robert Chambers. The most extraordinary pre-
cautions had been taken to preserve the anony-
mity of the author, who states in one of his
letters : ' To escape strife at the expense of
losing any honour which may arise from
my work is to me a most advantageous ex-
change.' What Owen thought of this book
may be gathered from the following letter
which he addressed to the ' Author of " Ves-
tiges," &c. : ' —

' Sir, — I beg to offer you my best thanks for
the copy of your work entitled " Vestiges of the
Natural History of Creation," which I have perused
with the pleasure and profit that could not fail to
be imparted by a summary of the evidences from
all the Natural Sciences bearing upon the origin
of all Nature, by one who is evidently familiar
with the principles of so extensive a range of
human knowledge. It is to be presumed that no
true searcher after truth can have a prejudiced
dislike to conclusions based upon adequate evi-
dence, and the discovery of the general secondary
causes concerned in the production of organised
beings upon this planet would not only be
received with pleasure, but is probably the chief

2SO PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vill.

end which the best anatomists and physiologists
have in view.

' I have cited experiments in my " Lectures
on the Invertebrata" published last year, in
which infusions of dead organic matter, light,
warmth, atmospheric air — in short, all the con-
ditions requisite for the supposed spontaneous
development of animalcules — were present, but
with an adequate contrivance against the possi-
bility of the presence of the ova of such, and no
development ensued. I have had personal experi-
ence — but the case would be too long for this
letter of acknowledgment — of the inadequacy of
the preventive means adopted by Mr. Crosse ; the
like inadequacy of Mr. Weeks's may be inferred
from his own description. I have sought in
every department of animated nature for un-
equivocal evidence of the earth and the waters
still exercising those delegated powers to which
the Mosaic record refers, that rich " bringing
forth of the moving creature that hath life" at
the earliest periods of the peopling of this planet,
but hitherto in vain. The gradation of organic
beings is for the most part so close and easy that
we cannot be surprised at the idea of progressive
transmutation of species having been a favourite
one with the philosophic mind in all ^ges. When,
however, you refer the highest species of the
Quadrumana to the Indian Archipelago, and con-
nect the fact with the origination of man (page

i845 'VESTIGES OF CREATION' 251

296), you overlook the fact that the highest of all
the Quadrumana, the chimpanzee, is exclusively a
native of Africa. The coincidence will doubtless
be highly agreeable to one inclined to base his
views on such insecure grounds that the highest
Quadrumana in the continental metropolis of the
Ethiopian race should be black, whilst the orang,
in the centre of the Malayan variety of man,
should approximate so nearly to the characteristic
tint of that variety. ■ These considerations, to-
gether with the resemblance of the chimpanzee s
skull in its prominent superorbital arch and some
other characters to the Melanian form of cranium,
interested me so much whilst investigating the
physiological possibility of the development of
the Hottentot from the chimpanzee, without, I
believe, the slightest prejudice against such a
relationship ; but many particulars in the ana-
tomy of both black and red orangs are decisive
against such a hypothesis in the present state of
physiological knowledge. There are a few mistakes
where you treat of my own department of science,
easily rectified in your second edition. Thus,
on page 333 : " The ray belongs to the highest
and best framed order of fishes. The myxine is
the lowest, and nearest the Invertebrata ;" but
upon the whole the zoology and anatomy of the
work is correct, and near upon the present level.
I take the liberty, in reference to the idea and
•diagram given in page 212, to request your at-

252 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. viii.

tention to the concluding generalisation in my
twelfth lecture, and to that on the " Metamor-
phoses of Insects," where will be found, I believe,
the first enunciation of the true law of the ana-
logies manifested by the embryos of animals in
their progress to their destined maturity. I will
not prolong this letter by any further remarks that
have arisen from the perusal of your work.'

On January 30, 1845, Whewell wrote to Owen
inquiring if he had seen ' a book called " Vestiges
of Creation," for I am told it is much talked of in
London.' He asks Owen's opinion of the doc-
trines therein set forth, and especially of the state-
ment ' that animals in general may be arranged
in a series proceeding from less to more perfect,
in such a way that the more perfect in their foetal
condition pass through the successive stages of
the less perfect, the characters being taken from
the vital centres, the brain or the heart, and the
more perfect being the more complex.' Whewell
cannot ' imagine ' that Owen ' can assent to any
part of this scheme,' and wishes to know his
opinion as to ' what parts of it are most palpably
false in physiology.' He proceeds: 'The first
proposition ' about the fcetal stages ' we have
heard a great deal of lately. Who is the main
promulgator of it, and how far do you believe it ? '

In reply Owen wrote, February 3, 1845 :
' Animals in general cannot be arranged in a
series proceeding from less to more perfect in any

i845 WHEWELL ON 'VESTIGES' 253

way, so many, in different natural series, being on
a par ; much less can they be so arranged as that
the more perfect in their foetal condition pass
through the successive stages of the less perfect,
the characters being taken from the brain to the
heart.' He gives no definite reply to Whewell's
last question.

Whewell wrote to Owen again on February
1 3, thanking him for his letter, and stating that his
reason for asking his opinion was, that ' though
the author is very decorous in his language [the
book] has been felt by many persons to have a
tendency adverse to Natural Theology ; and I
have been importuned to answer it. This I
cannot undertake to do.' He intends, he says, to
issue some selections from his ' Philosophy' bearing
on Theology, ' and in the preface (without naming
the " Vestiges " ) I shall notice one or two points
which have some apparent novelty in the book.'
He wishes to quote Owen's authority for various
statements ; but from a later letter of Whewell's
(February 15) we gather that Owen had objected
to this, for Whewell says : ' So far as you are con-
cerned, I will submit anything which I write, and
you shall see and decide for yourself, as is rea-
sonable.'

Murchison and Sedgwick wrote on the same

subject.

254 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. viii.

R. Murchison to R. Owen

April 2, 1845.

' My dear Owen, — The enclosed letter from
Sedgwick will explain to you that he is not to be
had. In speaking to Lockhart long ago on this
subject, I said to him that of all persons in this
town you were the most fit to review the
" Vestiges," but that I doubted the possibility of
your finding time to do it. Now, however, that
the book has passed through four editions and
is really taking considerable hold on the public
mind, a real man in armour is required, and if
you would undertake the concern you would do
infinite service to true science and sincerely oblige
your friends. With your facility in composition I
doubt not that a day or two would suffice, and
your article would completely mesmerise the
" Monmouth Street philosophy," as Sedgwick
calls it. ... I cannot say how you would gratify
your friends and admirers by this effort, which
would entitle you to another niche in the temple
of good works in which you already occupy so
high a place.

' To be done at all it must be done by a
master hand; at present, notwithstanding the on
dits of men of science, the book rides triumphant.
' Ever yours most sincerely,

' Rod. I. Murchison.'

i845 SEDGWICK ON 'VESTIGES' 255,

Adatji Sedgivick to R. Owen

May 1845.

' I have thoughts of writing a review of that
beastly book, the " Vestiges of Creation." You
are my brazen head, Hke the one old Friar Bacon
used to consult in his difficulties.' ' Sedgwick goes
on to criticise various points in what he calls the
' circular-logic ' of the author, and he remarks :
' The marsupials may resemble in their gestation
the lower class of birds. But is not this mere
resemblance without anything like identity, or
like a passage from one towards another ? True
philosophy has to do with differences rather than
with resemblances, or at least has to do with both.
I want you to clear my fog over one or two points.'

Sedgwick apparently wrote also to Sir Philip
Egerton for information, for the latter writes to
Owen in June to say that he has no time to give
Sedgwick's letter a careful answer. ' Give,' he says,
' old Sedg. an argument or two to level against
the "Vestiges" founded on correct anatomy.'

It is interesting to find, after reading Owen's
own letter to the then unknown author of the
'Vestiges,' that others eagerly sought after his
opinions, for the express purpose of confuting
the views therein expressed. We may, perhaps.,
assume that Owen had a certain leaning towards
the theories enunciated by Robert Chambers, but

256 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. viii.

that, at the same time, he did not feel sufficiently
convinced to recognise those principles, afterwards
expounded by Charles Darwin, which his own
genius and capacity for work could not fail to have
furthered.

In 1845 Owen first described the remains of
dicynodonts ^ from South Africa. These creatures
were a new tribe of sauria, the remains of which
have since been found in England, Scotland, and
India, and have proved of peculiar value in deter-,
mining critical points with regard to the age of
certain rocks.

By the end of ihe year his ' Descriptive Cata-
logue of Fossil Mammalia and Aves preserved
in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons '
had also appeared. One cannot but be astounded
at the amount of work which he got through dur-
ing the years 1844-46 ; it was clearly a period of
excessive activity with him, and the wonder is
that he retained his health through it all. We
see from his wife's diary that a great part of this
work was done late at night.

'January 7. — R. busy till nearly three in the
morning writing paper for the Geological Society
to-morrow on Dicynodon.'

In a note to Laurillard written a few months
later, referring to the ' age of the rocks containing
the dicynodonts,' Owen says : ' I do not believe

" ' On Reptilian Fossils (Trans. Geol. Soc, vol. vii., 2nd
(Dicynodon) from S. Africa,' series, 1845).'

i845 OWEN AND THE LABOURING CLASSES 257

them to be older than our New Red, or, at most,
the Magnesian Conglomerates which contain our
thecodont reptiles.'

Owen was still acting as Commissioner on the
health of towns, and this year issued his report
on the sanitary condition of Lancaster. This
Commission work frequently took up the best
part of a day, as the following entries will show : —

'January 16. — R. at Gwydyr House on the
Health of Towns Commission, from ten till six.'

' 25M. — R. to Gwydyr House in the morning.
Afternoon spent in going over the House of Com-
mons with Sir H. de la Beche and Dr. Reid in
order to see about the best mode of lighting, &c.'

Owen received 100/. remuneration for his
services as Commissioner, and what he did with
it is best seen from a letter which he wrote to
Lord Ashley : —

' In response to your Lordship's appeal in aid
of the undertakings of the Society for Improving
the Condition of the Labouring Classes, I beg to
be permitted to contribute to the funds of the
Society the amount of the remuneration which I
have received as " Commissioner for inquiring
into the health of towns." I enclose a copy of a
memorandum sent with the sum received.

Richard Owen, Esq.

Amount of remuneration as Commissioner for £ ■?■ d-
inquiring into the health of towns . . . 100 16 o

Property tax ^ '^ 1°

97 17 2'
VOL. I. S

258 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. viii.

His services on various Commissions in later
years were given gratuitously. „ .:::

The diary continues : —

'January 31. — To Faraday's lecture at the
Royal Institution. The largest crowd I have
ever seen there. Many gentlemen were obliged
to come into the ladies' gallery, as they could
not get seats elsewhere. After an exceedingly
interesting lecture, Faraday said he had a few
remarks to make on some new reform laws for the
Institution. These remarks were admirably made,
and no one could feel offended, although it was
a direct attack on those gentlemen who helped to
render the ladies very uncomfortable sometimes
by filling seats, and often the front seats, in the
part intended only for ladies. Wearing a hat in
the library was one of the delinquencies, likewise
sitting in the seats reserved for the directors,
who were obliged by their office and duties to
be the last in. Mr. Faraday also remarked that
the formation of two currents, caused by certain
gentlemen rushing upstairs the instant the lecture
was over in order to fetch their lady friends, was
not conducive to the comfort of those coming
downstairs. Everything taken very well.'

A few days before this lecture Faraday wrote
Owen an amusing letter about a three-legged frog
which had come into his possession : —

'Dear Owen, — Who cares for bipeds or quad-
rupeds ? They are as common as discontent,

i845 FARADAY'S ONE-LEGGED FROG 259

but I think even you may be interested in a
triped which I happen to possess just now, and
which, if you do care for it, is at your service.
The fact is that in sending for some frogs for my
lectures, one of them, a fine fellow, proved to have
but one hind leg. The leg is very powerful, and
when on earth, or when resistance is afforded to
its hold, it is astonishing to see how far this frog
jumps by its aid. In fact, as to locomotion, the
leg does the ordinary duty of two very well. I
do not see any mark of a former wound, and I
thought you might be pleased to observe first
the frog's actions and afterwards its structure. If
so, drop me a note and I will send it to you.

' Ever truly yours,

' W. Faraday.'

'February 21. — Geological Society Anniver-
sary. R. having declined the office of president,
is now vice-president.'

' April 1 5. — R. wrote to Willy to tell him of a
curious mistake in the old Latin dictionary. The
word " alee " = " elk," has the extraordinary note
that it was a creature " without joints in its legs ! " '

' May ID. — A great box arrived full of
statistics for R. "to cast his eye over." They
consist of information elicited by questions put
by the Commissioners.'

' xj^th. — R.'s introductory lecture to his

Hunterian Course for the season.'

s 2

2j6o PROFESSOR OWEN CH. Vlli.

' \']th.—K. off with Mr. Gould to Woburn on
a fishing expedition — an arrangement made long
since. They put up at the " Bedford Arms," and
drove together in a butcher's cart to a stream
about four miles off. Good sport, and plenty of
trout caught.'

' 22nd. — R. very hard at work all day. His
" Fossil Mammalia " came in last night with the
delectable words " The End " printed, but there
is still a great deal to do — Introduction, &c.'

'June 6. — R. and I to Albemarle Street at
eight to hear Mr. Murchison lecture at the Royal
Institution on the " Ural Mountains." Unfortu-
nately, the most interesting part had to be crowded
into a few minutes at the end of the lecture,
owing to the time.'

By the beginning of July the ' Odonto-
graphy ' was completed, and Owen mentions the
fact in a note written to his wife on July 10.
' I found a pile of copies of my " Odontography,"
looking very grand in new covers and India
paper. Your father is now reading the preface.'

Mention must be made of Owen's election
this year into the famous club founded by Dr.
Johnson and limited to forty members, which is
known as ' The Club.' The date of his election
was May 20, 1845. Strangely enough, in this
club he filled the place once occupied by Oliver
Goldsmith, for, since ' The Club ' was composed
purely of representative men, and literature was

i84S THE CLUB 261

already represented, Goldsmith obtained his place
on the score of his supposed scientific attain-
ments, as being the author of a book, ' Animated
Nature,' which was merely a translation of Buffon's
' Natural History.'

At Owen's first dinner at ' The Club ' the
•question was raised by Lord Cfarendon whether
Cromwell ought to have a place amongst the
monuments of the kings and queens of England in
Westminster Hall, and was to be decided by each
member giving his opinion and reasons in turn.
Owen, as the youngest member, had to give
his opinion first, somewhat to his dismay. But
fortunately for him he was a great lover of
Milton, and, having a very retentive memory,
remembered his 'Ode to Cromwell,' and so re-
plied that Cromwell already had a monument in
men's minds in Milton's words —

Cromwell, our chief of men, who, through a cloud

Not of war only, but detractions rude.

Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,

To peace and truth thy glorious way hast plough'd, &c.

We have a description of a dinner at ' The
Literary Society,' on July 4 : —

' It was, as it always is, a very delightful
meeting — Sir R. Inglis, Chev. Bunsen, Baron
Alderson, Bishop of Lichfield, Sir J. Barrow,
Sir R. Westmacott, the octogenarian tutor to
Lord Melville, who lives in Greek, Col. Leake,
the antiquarian of Athens, Mr. Eastlake, Mr.

262 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. viii.

Maynard, Mr. Gregson, Dr. Croly, and myself.
The great work by Humboldt, " Cosmos," came
under discussion. You should have Bailliere's
translation of it. . . . To say that it does not give
the richness of the original is only to say that the
man who could worthily render the diction of
Humboldt is not yet found. . . . Arnold I have
almost wholly read ; but I mean to buy that
remarkable record of a man who could, and dared
to, think : a greater rarity than the moa.'

'On July 24,' Mrs. Owen writes in her diary,
' Sir H. de la Beche came with a message from
Sir Robert Peel to ask Richard if knighthood
would be acceptable to him. After talking the
matter over with me, R. declined, as I desired.
It would not add much to our comfort or re-
spectability, and if the time should come when
the collection had become part of a great national
museum, then it might all be very well.'

Early in August Owen met Theodore Hook
and J. M. W. Turner, at a dinner given by his
friend Broderip, who was a great connoisseur of
pictures. A few days after this dinner Turner
invited Owen and Broderip to see his pictures
in his house in Queen Anne Street. Owen's
account of this visit is amusing. He tells how,
on a very bright August day, Broderip and he
walked together to Turner's residence, which was
slightly dingy in outward appearance. When
they arrived at the door, they waited some time

i845 VISIT TO TURNER 263

before their ring at the bell was answe-fad. At
last an elderly person opened the door a few
inches, and g,sked them suspiciously what they
wanted. ' They replied that they wished to see
Mr. Turner. The door was immediately shut in
their faces ; but after a time the person came back
to say that they might enter. 'When they got
into the hall she showed them into a room, and
forthwith shut the door upon them. They then
discovered with some dismay that this apartment
was in total darkness, with the blinds down and
the shutters up. After a prolonged interval, they
were told theymight go upstairs. Upon arriving at
the topmost storey they perceived Turner standing
before several easels, and taking his colours from
a circular table, which he swung round to get at
the paints he required. He was painting several
pictures at once, passing on from one to the other,
and applying to each in its turn the particular
colour he was using, till it was exhausted.

After showing them all that there was to be
seen. Turner vouchsafed the explanation of the
treatment which they experienced upon entering
the house. He said that the bright light outside
would have spoilt their eyes for properly appre-
ciating the pictures, and that to see them to
advantage an interval of darkness was necessary.
At this stage of the interview Broderip had to
leave for some engagement, and then an event
took place which Owen declares that none of his

264 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. viii.

artist friends would ever believe. Turner offered
him a glass of wine ! It was while they were
coming downstairs that he first observed
symptoms of an inward struggle going on in
Turner's bosom. When they were passing a
little cupboard on the landing this struggle
reached a climax. Finally, Turner said, ' Will
you — will you have a glass of wine ? ' This offer
having been accepted, after a good deal of
groping in the cupboard a decanter was pro-
duced, of which the original glass stopper had
been replaced by a cork, with the remains of
some sherry at the bottom. This Owen duly con-
sumed, and shortly afterwards took his leave, with
many expressions of the pleasure that this visit
had afforded him and a disturbing conviction that
the sherry might lurk indefinitely in his system.

Owen had several visits from Turner at the
College of Surgeons, and on August 8 Mrs. Owen
writes : ' I translated part of the programme of
the Munich Exhibition for 1845 for Turner, as
he is thinking of sending them a picture.'

On September i Owen set out for the
Continent, in order to attend the meeting of
the Association of Italian Naturalists,- which was
held at Naples. From a memorandum he sent to
Mr. Clift about the forwarding of his letters we
gather that he meant to stay from September
3 to 7 in Paris, 8th to nth Marseilles, nth
to 28th Naples, September 29 to October 6

1845 ROUEN AND PARIS 265

Basle, October 6 till further advice, Cologne.
Of his letters, which are mainly descriptive, one
to his son, dated Paris, September 4, 1845, 3-"^
illustrated with sketches of a van drawn by six
horses, and of a fountain, tells all about the
King's palace and gardens, where, he says, every-
body behaves very well ' and *no one plucks
flowers.' To his wife he writes on the same
day : ' I have not had time till now to write
more than one note (for Sir J as. Graham), ex-
tracted from me by Buckland when exhausted
by fatigue and past midnight, which is the con-
sequence of dear B.'s incessant activity and de-
termination that neither he nor anyone shall
rest till they have seen all that can, should,
or might be seen. . . . [At Havre] we went to
the Douane to see our luggage passed, and I
had nearly been made a sans-culotte , the officer
insisting on seizing my black trousers because
they were new and had not been worn ! The
incident will probably grace the columns of
" Galignani " or " Punch!" ' He relates the starting
at half-past 5 a.m. from Havre to Caudebec, and
a visit by Buckland and himself to Rouen and
the Abbey of Jumieges. At Rouen they visited
Pouchet and his museum, 'saw all the abbeys
and churches,' and reached Paris at five the same
day, where they were met by Pentland.

On September 8, in another letter to his wife
written from Paris, he says : ' I postpone leaving

266 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. vill.

Paris until to-morrow morning, in order to avail my-
self of the meeting of the Institute to-day, at which
Dr. Buckland and I take our seats for the first
time since our election. Yesterday we went to
Versailles to pay our respects to Madame Cuvier
and Sophie. We found the dear venerable lady
at home. . . . She is rather deaf and shows her
great age, but the fine features and the benevo-
lent, intellectual eyes still remain.'

Concerning his visit to the Institute, Owen
writes to his wife : —

Steamboat on ye Rhone : September ii [1845].

' I got up early on Monday morning at Paris,
wrote off slick a memoir for the Institute, called on
Flourens, the Sec. at the Garden of Plants, who
had it forthwith translated, and k^^was read to a
large auditory. . . . My communi'c-ationwas on the
discovery of the fossil monkey "* in the newer ter-
tiary deposits of Essex, with the extinct elephant,
rhinoceros, &c., the first ever met with in that
formation. I exhibited the fossil, and took the
precaution before the meeting to compare it
(along with De Blainville) with the large collec-
tion of monkeys' skulls in the Jardin des Plantes.
De B. was quite en accord with me, and they
regard the matter here as trh ifnportant. Buck-
land, Pentland, and I met Elie de Beaumont,
Omalius d'Halloy, and some distinguished

= Macacus pUocenus, Owen ; British Fossil Mammals, 1846,
p. xlvi.

i845 NAPLES 267

zoologists and geologists at Milne-Edwards' to
dinner.'

Sailing from Marseilles via Leghorn, where the
ship stayed long enough for him to pay a flying
visit to Pisa, and Civita Vecchia, they arrived at
Naples on September 15, 'taking in passengers
for the Congress * at each port ; we numbered at
last nearly 300.'

Once settled at Naples he writes long letters to
his wife, the first of which is dated September 20,
1 845 : ' And now, my dear Caroline, that I find
myself in the cool quiet of my apartment after
the hurry and excitement of this first day of the
Congress, I hasten to the enjoyment of a deeper
pleasure than any that the events at Naples have
given me — a conversation with my own dear loved
wife, whom I have often had in my mind during
busy and exciting scenes, bearing patiently in her
far-distant and comfortless abode her own indis-
position, and comforting our dear patient little
Willie under his.' After some details of his
voyage he refers to the meeting, and says : ' The
King^ was present, and, some flattering allusion
being made to him, he rose, and, much to the sur-
prise of all, addressed the meeting ; he said (as
Prince Canino translated it to me), he deserved
no praise, and could not listen to it from his own
Minister (the President, who was Minister of
the Interior) ; he felt himself the favoured and

* Meeting of the Italian Naturalists. '^ Bomba.

268 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. viii.

honoured person in receiving the visit of so many
intellectually eminent persons ; all that he had
done was a duty and pleasure ; he only desired to
know the wishes of the Congress, he would fulfil
them to the utmost of his power ; regretted that
this was not much, and that he should be more
than repaid by the benefit which might be an-
ticipated to this beautiful part of Italy. The
Prince observed that that was the most delicate
expression, and in the best taste, for by using it,
instead of saying " to my kingdom," he made him-
self one of the assembly. . . . Whilst we were
waiting [for dinner] Robert Brown came in, sun-
burnt and blistered from the effects of an excur-
sion to the summit of Vesuvius.'

While in Rome Owen was the guest of Prince
Charles Lucien Bonaparte, and he says, in a
letter to Mrs. Clift (October 7, 1845): 'I have
seen St. Peter's, the Vatican, Colosseum by sun-
light and moonlight, and more than anybody else
ever did or could see in so short a time ; but
the Prince arranges everything, and his horses
are swift.'

Before leaving Italy Owen visited Florence,
and in his diary writes : ' At Florence I had per-
mission of the Grand Duke to have a copy of the
portrait of Oliver Cromwell which hung as a pen-
dant to that of Charles I. in the room or gallery
of the Pitti Palace assigned to " Portraits of Great
Generals." The copy was made, at the recom-

i845 'BRITISH FOSSIL MAMMALS' 269

mendation of the Grand Duke, by Michele
Cortazzi.'

On his way back to England Owen stayed a
short time at Cologne, where he made the usual
visits to the places of interest. At St. Ursula's
Church, however, his attention was attracted to the
bones of that saintly lady's virgin companions,
many of which he very soon discovered to be
those of horses and other animals.^

Owen did not reach London till November 5,
owing to the ' fogs on the Rhine,' which delayed
him two days.

On November 1 1 we find him busily at work
again, for he writes to one of his sisters from the
College of Surgeons : ' Since my return I have
prepared for press the No. XI. of my " Brit. Fossil
Mammals," which I hope you will receive at the
beginning of next month, and I have made some
progress with the final number, so that work will
be completed by the end of this year. I have
next to write and print the volume on " Verte-
brated Animals," which will complete my Lec-
tures on the Comparative Anatomy of Animals
generally. I intend to lecture on the Vertebrata
next spring, so the same work will serve for both
purposes. These labours don't depend on bright-
ness of sky, and I find a vast consolation in them
for the great change between October in Italy and

" The tradition concerning Murray's Handbook for North
these bones will be found in Germany.

270 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. viii.

November in London. Indeed, I have rather
enjoyed than otherwise one or two typical fogs
which have lately enveloped us, according to the
•custom of the season. ... I dined yesterday
with Sir J. Lubbock, Friday with Professor An-
sted, Thursday with bachelor Cooper (Wm.),
Wednesday with Justice B. [Broderip], and Mon-
day with the Worshipful Company of Apothe-
caries in their ancient hall. . . . Just before
dinner to-day a letter from Dr. Buckland brought
the news — to our great pleasure— of his presen-
tation to the Deanery of Westminster.'

On December i we find an entry in the diary
stating that the Copley Medal was voted to Owen
at the Royal Society on that day, but that he
could not receive it, as it was voted to him while
he was still on the Council. ' The medal was to
be given at 4 p.m., and he was on the Council till
5 P.M. It was suggested that the medal should
be given to the person whom R. should propose.
On this he proposed Theodor Schwann.'

By December 18 ' everything connected with
the " British Fossil Mammalia and Birds " was
completed,' and on the 25th the whole work was
received in type from Bentley's.

As soon as the complete book appeared Owen
sent a copy to Dr. Gideon Mantell, who wrote
the following letter of acknowledgment : —

' I thank you most vrarmly for your invaluable
present, and sincerely congratulate you on the

1 845 LETTER FROM MANTELL 271

completion of this new and imperishable monu-
ment of your genius, talents, untiring industry,
and successful research.

' How I wish I had the abilities, the means,
and the leisure to bring out such a volume on
the flora and fauna of the country of the igua-
nodon ! But, alas ! I must be content to have
obtained a distant glimpse of that " Land of
Promise," which more fortunate and worthier
cultivators of natural science will enter and ex-
plore. . . .'

272 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ix.

CHAPTER IX

1846-47

Owen's proposal of a National Collection of Fossil and Recent
Comparative Anatomy — The British Association at Southamp-
ton, 1846, and at Oxford, 1847— Literary Work— The Rajah of
Sarawak at 'The Club,' 1847 — Member of the Commission
of Sewers — Foundation of the Palseontological Society, 1848.

A SCHEME which Owen had very near at heart
was the furtherance of the growth and utiHty
of the collections under his charge and those
at the British Museum, and the following copy
of a letter which he addressed, to Sir Robert Peel
shows that he lost no opportunity of advancing
his plans : —

Richard Owen to Sir R. Peel

Royal College of Surgeons : February 13, 1846

' Dear Sir Robert, — The report [on the
Hunterian Museum] which you will hear to-
morrow is limited to the statement of the depart-
ment of the Physiological and Comparative Ana-
tomical Museum which requires increase ; and
of the extent of space which would be required
for the display of such a museum if it were

1846-47 NATIONAL MUSEUM PROPOSED 273

brought up to the present state of comparative
anatomy, so as to fulfil the objects and merit
the character of the natural exposition of those
works of the Creator which are the subjects of
that science.

' Should the Trustees deem the subject one
worthy the attention of Government and meriting
a repetition of the aid it formerly received, the
following are the dai;es and sums voted for the
establishment of the actual museum: —

'In 1799 Parliament voted 15,000/. for the
purchase of the Hunterian Collection of Compa-
rative Anatomy.

' In 1806 Parliament voted a further sum of
15,000/., in aid of the erection of an edifice for its
proper display and arrangement.

' In 1808 or 9 a third grant, of 12,500/, was
voted in aid of the completion of that edifice.

' Since that period comparative anatomy
has received no further pecuniary aid from the
State.

' The experience of the last six years has
convinced me that a national collection of the
organic mechanism of animals (if the Hunterian
Museum is to represent and fulfil the purposes
of such collection) can only keep pace with the
science, and with the required applications of such
museum to physiology, zoology, and geology,
by the aid of an annual grant from Government
analogous to that which has been made in aid of

VOL. I. T

274 PROFESSOR OWEN OH. ix.

the public expositions of zoology at the British
Museum, of botany at Kew Gardens, and of
geology at Craig's Court, for which latter collec-
tion a new museum is now in progress of erection.
Such annual grant, if the importance and various
applications of comparative anatomy be deemed
just ground for meriting it, otight to be applied to
the 7naintenance of the museum, under the control
and direction of the Trustees'

Owen was of opinion that the utility of the
collections at the Hunterian and British Museums,
and the Museum of Practical Geology, would be
greatly enhanced if these collections could be
combined. He was convinced of the importance
of studying fossil and recent animals together —
a question which has formed the subject of con-
sideration of the most eminent scientists at the
present day.

Sir William Flower mentions that as early as
January 6, 1842, Owen reported to the Council of
the College of Surgeons on the expediency of com-
bining the fossil and recent osteological specimens
in one catalogue as well as in one museum series.
His argument was thus summed up in the Report :
' The peculiarities of the extinct mastodon, for
example, cannot be understood without a compa-
rison with the analogous parts of the elephant and
tapir ; nor those of the ichthyosaurus without
reference to the skeletons of crocodiles and fishes.
The most useful portion of such specimens in the

1846-47 LETTER FROM LORD F. EGERTON 275

museum is, therefore, between those series of
skeletons of which they -present intermediate or
transitional structures.' This excellent plan,
though approved by the Council, and carried out
in the museum, never appeared in print.

Lord Francis Egerton to Richard Owen

18 Belgrave Square : March 27, 1846.

'My dear Sir, — I have a strong inclination
to take some opportunity after Easter of moving
for a committee of inquiry into the state of the
various collections of the British Museum. My
general view of the case is this. Books and anti-
quities are accumulating there at a rate which
must soon raise the question of further and very
extensive accommodation. For the moment, per-
haps, space enough is left to allow of the whole
subject being considered without the hurry of
immediate pressure.

' This, therefore, seems to me a fit and conve-
nient juncture for considering whether it may not
be possible to effect a great and salutary rearrange-
ment of the public collections, founded on the
simple and intelligible principle of the separation
of mind from matter, placing in one department
everything which concerns intellectual man, and
in one or more other departments everything
else.

'If it could be feasible to make incidental

T 2

276 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. IX.

to the adoption of such a principle the union of
the fossil collections of the Museum with those
of the College of Surgeons, the advantages to
science are too obvious and numerous for present
discussion. The difficulties in the way are
numerous, and I fear insurmountable. If you have
ever thought on the subject sufficiently to devise
even the outline of any practical scheme for the
purpose, I should be very thankful for any com-
munication on the subject as confidential as you
might wish to make it.

' Believe me, very faithfully yours,

' F. Egerton.'

Richard Owen to Lord Francis Egerton

College of Surgeons: March 27, 1846.

' Dear Lord Francis Egerton, — Your letter
has revived a hope in me on a subject which I
have had at heart for some years, but about which
I had beg»un to despond : a remedy for the
increasing anomaly of separate collections of
natural objects, which, as at present disjoined, fail
to illustrate the order and laws of Nature, and
consequently are wanting in that which best
justifies the expenses of collecting, housing, and
arranging them. The first and most obvious
practical remedy that suggested itself was that to
which you refer — viz. the combination of the fossil
skeletons at the British Museum with the recent
ones at the College of Surgeons. It seemed the

1846-47 REPLY

277

most practicable because the fossils at the museum
are not, like Sloanian and Banksian Natural History
specimens, special bequests, but have accumulated
gradually round a nucleus of a small but choice
collection of minerals, and the chief augmenta-
tions have been by Parliamentary grants for the
purchase of the two collections of Mr. Hawkins,
the collections of Dr. Mantell, Mr. Koch, &c. Of
all the Natural History departments in the museum,
I believe this to be most out of place there ; that
its removal would be opposed by fewest difficulties,
and that the space required by such removal
would be most valuable for the legitimate objects
of the Museum.

' What I have done towards preparing the
way for the reception of such an addition to the
Hunterian basis of a national collection of com-
parative anatomy is as follows : —

' I should premise that the portions of the
College funds assigned to the museum have been
applied during the last six or seven years almost
exclusively to the increase of the Surgical Depart-
ment. With great difficulty and by personal can
vass I have carried the purchase of a rare object
of comparative anatomy now and then. At length
the Pathological Museum overflows, and is made
to encroach on the Comparative Anatomy, against
the further extension of which want of space is
added to the argument of want of funds. Mr.
Barry [afterwards Sir Charles] is called in, and

278 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ix.

recommends all that present space permits — a
small additional room at an estimated cost of about
3,000/. I take this opportunity to renew a pro-
position to the Council which on former occasions
has been distasteful, involving an application for
Government aid, to be applied to the increase of
the museum under the control of the Hunterian
Trustees, coupled with facilities of admission to
the male adult public. Having discussed the
subject with Sir B. Brodie and two other influen-
tial members of the Council, they admit the futility
of wasting the College funds by expenditures which
would give only temporary relief to pressing
inconvenience, and the Council call upon me for
a report. In that I propose that they should
consider the question of museum enlargement in
the light of its adequacy to the reception of a
national collection of recent and fossil comparative
anatomy ; to look to Government for the requisite
funds ; to consent to resign to the Trustees the
control of such funds, and to be prepared for the
reception of the national collection of fossil com-
parative anatomy if offered ; and to submit the
whole to the inspection of the male adult public
on the same days and hours as those on which
the public are admitted to the British Museum.

' The Council have accepted my report, are
willing to agree to such an arrangement, and
have referred it to the Hunterian Trustees. The
Trustees have memorialised the Treasury, but,

1846-47 URGES ONE GREAT COLLECTION 279

Lord Northampton informs me, without success.
The case is briefly this : Parliament recognised
the principle of a national or public collection of
comparative anatomy by purchasing in the year
1799 that left by John Hunter, but transferred the
expense of maintaining and augmenting it, accord-
ing to the needs of the progress of the science, to
the College of Surgeons, voting to the College a
sum in aid of the building for the lodgment of the
museum. The sum total granted by Parliament
for the original purchase and the building was
42,500/. Half a century has now nearly elapsed,
and the College of Surgeons has duly fulfilled,
without further aid, the terms on which it accepted
the Hunterian Museum, and has greatly aug-
mented it, especially in the Pathological De-
partment. But the Comparative Anatomy has
by no means kept pace with the progress of the
science, and is very far behind the collections at
Paris, Leyden, and Berlin in the series of skeletons.
It seems not unreasonable to think that a collection
which displays the interior organisation of animals
should have a claim for an annual grant from
Government for its preservation and increase
equal to that which is assigned to the collections
of exterior zoology. The specimens of divine
mechanism from which a Ray and a Paley have
reduced so many beautiful illustrations of final
purpose may be expected to have at least as much
influence in humanising and improving the tone

28o PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ix.

of mind of a common visitor as the beauty or
strangeness of the outward forms of animals.

' As to the expense : if the fossils are to
remain and to be arranged, as they should be at
the British Museum, that must be incurred to
meet the needs of this and of other departments ;
and the question is whether the public and science
would not be the better served by expending so as
to combine and concentrate collections now unna-
turally dissevered, and thereby gain space for the
more legitimate objects of the British Museum.
Lincoln's Inn Fields is as central a position as
Great Russell Street ; Spode's great premises
extend from the Square to Portugal Street, in
close contiguity with the College.

' I would gladly devote the years that may
be spared me in systematically arranging and
expounding both by catalogue and lecture, as
heretofore, in regard to the Hunterian Collection,
such a proposed worthy national collection of
comparative anatomy.

' Although the proposed combination and re-
organisation of the collections of recent and fossil
comparative anatomy would be a great good, it
is not the best which could be done for the great
end which your Lordship has in view. But the
apparently best possible improvement always
appears Utopian and impracticable when it is
broached. I have indulged in speculations on a
concentration of all zoological illustrations — living,

1846-47 COMBINATION OF COLLECTIONS 281

dead, exterior, and anatomical — in one great con-
nected establishment.

' All the recent and fossil zoology of the British
Museum would come to this. The mineralogy
would naturally be transferred to the Government
Museum of Economic Geology, soon, I hope, to
develop itself into our National School of Mines.
The British Museum would then be left free for the
full extension of the departments which concern
intellectual man. But I fear I have trespassed
already too far on your patience ; any further
information I may be able to give will be most
readily at your service, and I remain, dear Lord
Francis, very faithfully yours,

' Richard Owen.'

Owen had one or two interviews with the Pre-
mier with regard to this scheme. ' On March 29
R. went by appointment to Sir Robert Peel's,
in order to impress upon him the necessity of
the College having Government help if they are
to carry on the thing properly, or else that the
collection should be made part of a great whole.
He says the Premier looks terribly overworked.'

A visit to Dr. Buckland in his new residence
as Dean of Westminster is thus described : ' We
found the Doctor almost lost amidst heaps of
boxes, packages, and lumber — the children
delighted with the move. The Deanery is a
dark, rambling place. R. raced about after the

282 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ix.

Dean's unwearying black legs, through great big
rooms, and then out on the leads, where the
Doctor said you could get a capital view of the
fireworks at Vauxhall Gardens. He showed us
some dreadful places where the Westminster
boys were accustomed to climb in order to get
out of bounds — it made me giddy to look at
them. The Dean brought out a South American
monkey, called " Jack." He looked ferociously at
the strangers, and shrieked and showed his teeth ;
but when Mr. Liebig (Baron Liebig's son) came
in, Jack jumped down into my lap and settled
down comfortably.'

Owen had the same sort of interest as Dr.
Buckland's son, Frank Buckland, afterwards ex-
hibited in visiting strange folk and curiosities of
his own species.

' April 4. — After lecture,^ R. went to see
"General Tom Thumb," by appointment. Came
back astonished.'

' bth. — R. went out to see an extraordinary
case of a man's tooth growing right through his
cheek, and curving up like a walrus's tusk.'

'nth. — We saw Pomara to-day at Mr.
Gould's. He is a fine boy about fourteen, and
most gentlemanly in manner, speaking perfect
English, although he has only been two years
at a school in Sydney. His grandfather is alive in
New Zealand. Father and mother both dead.'

' Hunterian Lectures, which were continued as heretofore.

1846-47 CROMWELL'S PORTRAIT 283

At the end of this month the portrait of Crom-
well which Owen had had copied from the original
in the Pitti Palace at Florence arrived at the
College of Surgeons. As the original had been
painted in Cromwell's lifetime for the then Grand
Duke, this portrait was considered one of the
most trustworthy likenesses of 'the Protector.
Carlyle had been looking forward with some
eagerness to seeing the portrait, and as soon as
it arrived both he and his wife came over to see
it. The diary thus records his visit : —

' Mr. Carlyle has a portrait of Cromwell,
but in quite a different style ; he greatly admired
our picture, and studied it attentively. It is
curious how like his books Carlyle's conversation
is. He grew very eloquent when telling us of the
way in which he was plagued by people who would
insist upon sending him their books. Young
ladies especially often wanted his opinion on
their poetry. " I hate poetry," he said comically.
I asked him if he hated Home's " Orion." " Ah,"
he said, " Home's a clever man." We walked
about in the museum, looking chiefly at fossils.'

' 3r(/. — More people to see Cromwell. He has
held quite a levee.'

PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ix.

Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte to
Richard Owen

Rome : June 29, 1846.

' My dear Friend,: — I am really ashamed of
myself for not having as yet answered to such a
friend and master ! Your excellent letter of Milan
reached me in proper time, and caused great /oz^ in
all my family, as you may have heard from our
common friend Pentland, who can truly take charge
of our sincere wishes, and made me feel less weary
among my sufferings and business about my appa-
rent neglect of your friendship. But you are as
busy a man as myself (I can't say more), and you
will know how time passes with us ! In how many
things do we not sympathise ! Your deep at-
tachment to your family. . . the philanthropy I
should like to imitate ! the footsteps I should be
so proud to follow ! ! ! are all ties that will always
strengthen the feelings I vowed you from the very
moment I enjoyed your acquaintance. Italy you
must visit again ! and visit it with your wife and
your dearest child. I cannot hope to see you at
Genoa, but will amicably calculate on some of those
fine labours, or at least interesting letters which
you so well know how to write for your friends
and dcoliers. . . . My wife is now quite well, but
I cannot say so of my poor legs, which are as

1846-47 AT THE MANSION HOUSE 285

bad as ever, and have prevented me from work-
ing as I could have wished to do. . . .

' I remain in great haste, yours for ever,

' C. L. Pr. Bonaparte.'

On July 15, 1846, Owen attended a Mansion
House dinner, and in writing to his sister Kate an
account of the ceremony mentions : ' I had Pro-
fessor de Morgan on one side and Dr. Budd on
the other, Capt. Sir James Ross opposite, and not
far below him D' Israeli, Bowring, and Monckton
Milnes. The chief peculiarities of the feast were
the grand calling-over of all the 200 guests after
dinner, to whom my Lord Mayor drinks in a loving
cup. Then go round said goblets, with the usual
old ceremony. The toasts followed, with flourish
of trumpets — all very grand, as our little books
used to say when I had not dreamt of invitations
from Lord Mayors.'

In August Owen went over to Ireland, and
was again a guest at Florence Court (Lord Ennis-
killen's). This visit was chiefly for pleasure, but
much interest was centred in the Florence Court
collection of London Clay fish remains. He sends
in one of his letters a message to Agassiz that he
must not think of completing his great work on
' Poissons Fossiles ' without seeing the specimens
preserved at Florence Court. His musical accom-
plishments were always much appreciated in this
house, and he writes to his wife, August 26, 1846 :

286 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ix.

' Lady E. has an almost professional extent and
power of voice, chiefly exercised in the songs of
the last Italian school. The young ladies sing
duets and national songs. No violoncello could
be found in the whole county of Fermanagh ; so I
transposed the accompaniments of two German
duets (voice and violoncello) for the flute, and they
have gone off very well.'

Before the meeting of the British Association,
which was held this year at Southampton, Sir
Roderick Murchison, who was to be President,
wrote a letter to Owen, in which reference is
made to a quadruped known as the ' fossil fox,'
the complete skeleton of which Murchison found
in the previous year in the great tertiary deposits
of Oeningen in Switzerland.

' . . . The so-called " Molasse" is as great an
opprobricism in geology as "Grauwacke" was
before I split it up and decimated it.

' If the fox really approaches very near to the
existing Vulpes, that evidence, as well as the forms
of the leaves, insects, and fishes, would seem to
make the deposit younger than Miocene properly
so-called. . . .

'P.S. — In my discourse at Southampton I
intend to dwell as much as possible (seeing that all
former Presidents have without exception blinked
it) on the Natural History proper discussed by the
Association, and in this estimate the researches

1846-47 BklTISH ASSOCIATION 287

and splendid results of yourself, Agassiz,i and
Edward Forbes will form a fine base-line for a
geologist who desires to show the solid founda-
tions on which his science rests.'

In a letter dated September 11, 1846, Owen
gives his wife an account of the proceedings Oi
the British Association : —

' Yesterday evening Sir R. Murchison spoke
his address. Prince Albert and a brilliant suite,
with Lord Palmerston, honoured the meeting with
their attendance. There was only room for the
Presidents of sections and distinguished foreigners
on the platform, where, after the address, the
Prince spoke or bowed affably to each of us. . . .
Tell Broderip that, viewing the galaxy of stars
with which our President was surrounded last night,
the Prince on his right, and thanks proposed to
him by the Foreign Secretary in a flattering
speech, it seemed a veritable apotheosis of
Murchison.'

At this meeting Owen was President of the
Zoological Section, and he writes to his wife
(September 14): ' Lyell told me that Herschel
was so delighted [with Owen's address] that his
expressions and manner were like those of a child,
most of the generalisations respecting our old
mammalia being quite new to him. Buckland,
Agassiz, Lyell, and Murchison spoke after I had
ended. . . . Next morning (Saturday) Sir Philip

288 PROFESSOR OWEN CH ix.

[Egerton] and I joined the Red Lions'^ in a
yacht belonging to a Liverpool member, who
has a large fortune and has fitted his vessel
out for the purpose of dredging and otherwise
investigating the Natural History of the deep.
We had a delicious day ; just the right breeze.
Our party consisted of Professor Clarke (Cam-
bridge), Lyell, Agassiz, Ansted, Robt. Ball of
Dublin, Professor Allman, Ed. Forbes ; break-
fasted and dined on board, and caught many
curious critters. . . . Southampton is, of course, in
a state of bustle and excitement ; but without some
exertion the " Times " will swamp these useful and
valuable assemblies. It is something to have
compelled its respect in regard to my own doings
among the savans. Prince Albert came to our
Zoological Section just after I had concluded a
lecture on the skulls of animals.'

After the meeting, Sir Roderick Murchison
writes on November i to Owen : —

' I cannot for the life of me comprehend why,
after your excellent description, you will not ven-
ture on any sort of a name [for the fossil fox].

' You demonstrate it to be no dog, and yet
you allow Von Meyer's name to stand, which is
founded (mind) on a complete misapprehension
of parts of the animal. . . .

' As the animal is a British acquisition — is

^ A club connected with the British Association of which Owen
was a member.

1846-47 A NEW FOSSIL LINK 289

canonised in our " Transactions " [of the Geological
Society] ; and as his last and accurate dying
speech is given by yourself; and as H. von Meyer
Tiever saw the original and has only heaped error
upon error by arguing from Mantell's drawing,
pray do not have his name of Canis palustris.

' Give any nom de guerre you please, but for
God's sake and for love of me (qualifying it as
much as you please) do let us show by the name
that you have defined a new fossil link! Yield-
ing to this earnest request, Owen named it Gale-
cynus ceningensis.

On October 9, 1846, we find Owen writing to
his sister Eliza from Drayton Manor, where he
had gone to stay with Sir Robert Peel. He
travelled down with Samuel Rogers and Charles
Eastlake, and gives the following interesting
particulars of his stay there : —

' The poet [Rogers], who is deaf, asked me if I
could tell him who some of the people were [at the
dinner party], who this, who that (he is getting old
now). Sir Robert came to the rescue by " Mr.
Rogers, will you take a glass of Johannisberger ? "
Very agreeable chat with my right-hand neigh-
bour, which led old Sam to say, " But you can
tell me who your friend is ? " After dinner Sir R.
asked many questions on Natural History and
Physiology ; characters of races of men ; Sir
James [Graham] joined, touching development of
negro intellect in St. Domingo ; then it led to

VOL. \. u

2go PROFESSOR OWEN CH. IX.

ancient statues, and Eastlake came in. . . . F'ound
Rogers and Eastlake in the sculpture gallery on
coming down to breakfast. R. talked about
" Vestiges ; " ^ Eastlake has not read the book.
Then touching the "Chambers" of Edinburgh.
. . . After breakfast went with Pickersgill into
the portrait gallery, and profited by his criticisms.
I am much satisfied with the light and the place
in which my own is hung ; it flanks one side of the
entry, with Cuvier on the other.

' Sir R. pointed out some of his choice en-
gravings. Eastlake showed me a curious per-
spective effect in One of Roberts's (R.A.) mag-
nificent Egyptian subjects.'

To return to the journal : —

'October 21. — Boa died at the Surrey Gar-
dens. It is over 15 feet long, and is awaiting
dissection.'

'November i. — Sent out for Nos. i aqd 2
of " Dombey and Son." R. is going to refrain
till vol. ii. of his Lectures is out. Mr. Broderip
begged to be allowed to take the two numbers
home in his pocket. R. told him he might, on
condition that he did not look at them to-night
— upon which Mr. Broderip said that he should
read every word before going to bed.'

' \th. — R. read at the Geological Society his
paper on Sir Roderick's fossil fox.'

' Vestiges of Natural History of Creation.

1846-47 AWARDED THE 'ROYAL MEDAL' 291

' I'jth. — Richard to the Royal Society, where
they had voted him the Royal Medal for his paper
on Belemnites. He was in the chair at the last
meeting when it was proposed, and demurred
because it put him in an awkward position. After
some discussion he was requested to retire from
the room for a few moments, and Dr. Roget
having again proposed the belemnites, R. found
on his return that the medal was voted to him.
The fact of his paper being recommended for the
medal while he himself was in the chair might
look strange to those who were not aware of the
facts of the case.'

His co-medallist was Mr. Leverrier, to whom,
for his discovery of the new planet, was awarded
the Copley Medal.

On December 12 Owen sent to the printers
a work in which is embodied the manuscript of
his ' Vertebrate Animals.' This was an octavo
volume, and consisted of his Hunterian Lectures
on the subject. In this year also one of his more
important papers was the description of a true
fossil monkey [Macacus pliocemis) from the Plei-
stocene deposit of Grays, Essex, a note on which
he had previously presented to the Institute of
France.

The last evening of the year 1 846 he spent at
a large children's party, where he went in company
with Lyell and Babbage, the latter of whom he
describes as ' looking beaming throughout'

u 2

292 . PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ix.

In 1847 Owen devoted much time to the
preparation of his work 'On the Archetype
and Homologies of the Vertebrate Skeleton,'
which came out in the following year. In the
month of January Charles Darwin was a fre-
quent visitor; sometimes appearing at an early
hour. ' On January 7,' Mrs. Owen writes,
' Mr. Darwin was here very early, before
breakfast. He and R. had a long discussion on
the subject of R.'s views on osteology and the
archetype. After breakfast R. brought out his
" Broadsheet of Osteology." Mr. Darwin quite
saw the force of that.'

This ' Broadsheet of Osteology ' was a list or
table which Owen had drawn up of all the scientific
terms used by the most important English and
foreign naturalists when describing the various
bones of the vertebrate animals. The great
difficulty in the way of Owen's scientific writings
being generally read was the fact that, although
they often abounded in picturesque descriptions,
and certainly in rich and instructive revelations,
yet the frequency with which long compound
Latin and Greek words were used, quite unfitted
them to compete with more popular expositions.
And yet he, in reality, simplified and deterrriined
to a great extent the language of comparative
anatomy. Often when preceding naturalists had
used different names in describing the same bone,
Owen avoided the confusion to which this gave

1846-47 TECHNICAL TERMS 293

rise, sometimes by rejecting both names and
suggesting a word more descriptive than either,
sometimes by compounding the two in such a way
as to suggest, by the very name, both the ideas
which the two names contained. He gives the
reasons which ' compel him in some instances to
dissent from the high authority of Cuvier,
Geoffroy, and Agassiz. The objection to some
of the French nomenclature was that it often dealt
in descriptive phrases rather than in single
expressive terms — for example, the word ' hypo-
branchial ' replaces what Cuvier calls the ' piece
interne de la partie inferieure de I'arceau bran-
chiale.' The German language, on the other
hand, though susceptible of happy combinations
as regards description, yields such results as to
make it impossible for many words to become the
current language of anatomy ; for example, Owen's
comparatively harmless words ' supra-orbital ' and
' supra-temporal ' contrast favourably with the
terrible expressions used by German naturalists
— Oberaugenhohlenbein and Augenbogenschuppe !
for, as Owen himself remarks, such terms, ex-
cellent as they are in their way, ' are likely to be
restricted to the anatomists of the country where
the vocal powers have been trained from infancy
to their utterance.

The Hunterian Lectures given by Owen this
year were on the 'Anatomy of Fishes.' . These
lectures were afterwards published from notes

294 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ix.

taken by William White Cooper, as were other
courses of Owen's Hunterian Lectures.

' Fehrua7y i6. — Found the cook had a queer-
looking bit of fish, which R. had brought in and
told her to cook for dinner. There was only
part of it in the kitchen, and I did not recognise
it. The cook's chief objection seemed to be the
name [Anarrkichas lupus) which her master had
called it, and she was doubtful if a fish with such
a name could be a fit thing to send up to table.
It turned out to be what they call a " wolf-fish,"
and R. declared it was not at all bad.'

'March lo. — Meeting at Downing Street, at
Lord John Russell's, consisting of Sir Roderick
Murchison, Bishop of Norwich, Sir P. Egerton,
and Richard, to discuss plans for a British
Museum of Natural History.'

' \6tk. — Meeting at the College to-day.
Proposed to erect a statue of John Hunter in
Westminster Abbey. Dr. Buckland is quite
willing to find space, if they settle that it should
be erected there.'

'21st. — -A proteus in a black bottle left here
for R., who had gone to Mincing Lane to see a
narwhal's head with two large tusks. No de-
ception this time. The tusks both turn the same
way.'

' 22nd. — To luncheon at Dean Buckland's. A
piece of roast ostrich, which we all tasted ; it was
very much like a bit of coarse turkey.'

1846-47 ROAST OSTRICH

295

' 23^^?'. — R. had a very bad night. Query,
roast ostrich ? At four o'clock he called on Sir
Robert Peel, who gave him a card for me to
view the pictures at Whitehall Place.'

' 26th. — The proteus still alive. Gave him an
earthworm ; would not touch it. Tried some
spawn, but with the same result.'

'May I. — R.'s twenty-fourth and last lecture.
We hurried off as soon as we could to the Royal
Academy, so as to get a look at the pictures
before dinner,'

' 'ind. — R. took one more look at the nar-
whal's head. I feel very savage with the College
Council. They will not buy the head. If I were
sure it would go to the British Museum I should
not mind so much ; it seems a shame to let it go
out of the country.'

' 6th. — Dr. H. Acland told R. that his proteus
(not the same species as ours) only ate a worm
about once a fortnight.'

' ']th. — Lady Hastings here with the Hordle
crocodile, which she has pieced together admi-
rably. She was busy in the museum for over two
hours, glorying over her bones.'

' 'ith. — The worm I put into the vessel with
the proteus the other morning has now been
eaten.'

' ^T^rd. — R. and I to the Gardens, according to
a request from Sir Roderick Murchison, as the
Grand Duke Constantine was to be there. The

296 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ix.

Grand Duke speaks English well. He was greatly
pleased with the bears. The elephant ill. The
rhinoceros was in the water, looking self-satisfied,
and like a clumsy model of a creature in mud.'

'Jtme 7. — Mr. Mitchell called about the
elephant. Dead. R. sent some College students
to take out the elephant's brain, but they found it
too difficult.'

' Zth. — Pouring wet. R. went off to the
Gardens before seven. Came back with his hand
injured in getting the brain out. The skull was
sawn, and the splinters got into his hand as he
was drawing the brain out.'

' \oth. — Grand Duke Constantine here. R.
went round the museum with him. He stayed an
hour and a half, and seemed greatly pleased.'

' i\th. — The presence of a portion of the de-
funct elephant on the premises made me keep
all the windows open, especially as the weather is
very mild. I got R. to smoke cigars all over the
house.'

' \<^th. — New Zealand paper sent by Mr.
Parish, with cuts of a head which was found by
natives in a river there and supposed to be a myste-
rious fierce something. R. says from what he can
make of the woodcuts he has little doubt but that
it was a calf's head.'

On June 19 Owen paid a visit to Lady Has-
tings at Lymington. Writing to his sister Kate
(June 21, 1847), he says : 'The Marchioness is an

1846-47 LYMINGTON AND OXFORD 297

extraordinary vocalist — two octaves clear and more.
Captain Henry, her husband, plays the violoncello;
I take the flute, Lady H. the harp, and one of
her daughters the piano. . . . Too tired to write
when I go to bed, and seldom awake earlier than
in time for an hour's work in the museum before
breakfast. 1 1 is chiefly of fossils, several thousands,
and some of them the finest in the world. I de-
scribed one at the Geological Society last Wed-
nesday night. . . . Lady H. and I have a joint
memoir on another rarity for the Oxford Meeting
[of the British Association].'

To this meeting Owen went a few days later.

'June 23. — Prince C. L. Bonaparte called,
and went with us to Paddington. Our party
consisted besides of Professor Nilsson, of Lund,
Sweden, Professor Eckart, of Christiania, Dr.
Allman (Ireland), and Professor Ansted. We
arrived at Oxford at half-past one. We took the
proteus in a pickle-bottle, as Dr. Acland had
asked us to do so, to compare it with his. We
had Lady Hastings' crocodiles' heads in a great
basket carefully packed. Prince Charles Lucien
took it on the seat with him in our fly, as there
was no other place to put it, and sat in the
seat with his back to the horses, with his arm
embracing it. He has now grown a beard. Sir
Robert Inglis had been very urgent about R.
coming to see him as soon as he arrived at the
Vice-Chancellor's. So R. having dropped the

298 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ix.

Prince at his quarters on the way, left me at Christ
Church, where Dr. Pusey had most kindly given
up his house, and then went on. to Sir Robert.
Dr. Pusey was obliged to be away, but made
over his house and servants to Dr. .Acland,
directing that whatever was wanted should be
supplied at his expense. Lunch at Dr. Acland's,
and then to the theatre, where Sir Roderick
Murchison introduced his successor. Sir Robert
Inglis. In the evening to Dr. Daubeny's, whose
house is attached to the Botanical Gardens.
Whewell, Wheatstone, the Bucklands, Bishop of
Norwich there, and also Lady Hastings. She
was standing talking to a knot of celebrities, when
seeing us she came forward, saying that she must
not stand any longer in the way. I whispered to
her that she had a right to be a " fixed star " in an
assembly like this, at which she laughed and
answered, " Oh, you mean because of my head "
(the crocodile's). There was a great crowd in
every room, and also in the gallery where the
books are, where people stood, with a strong light
cast on them, looking at the others below. The
Bishop of Norwich came up and remarked that
their appearance up there reminded him strongly
of a group of figures at Madame Tussaud's exhi-
bition.'

' 2^th. — The Buckland breakfast. Frank's
bear (Tiglath-Pileser), who resides on the pre-
mises, was an honoured guest, and was in cap and

1846-47 AT DR. PUSEY'S 299

gown. After the breakfast saw Mr. C. Darwin
in the Zoological Section. We then made up a
party to go up the river. We hired two boats.
In ours, besides ourselves, were Mr. Darwin,
Mr. Hill, and Professor Langberg, from Norway.
In the other boat were Dr. and Mrs. Acland, Dr.
Hooker, and Ehrenberg. We raced for some way,
and landed at the bridge. On Sunday R. got up
to early chapel. After breakfast went to St. Mary's,
and by a curious coincidence the annual sermon
was on the " Pride of Knowledge." The Bishop
of Oxford, however, gave a very fine sermon-
On Monday Prince Albert came, and spent some
time with the Duke of Saxe-Weimar at the
Zoological Section. In the evening R. and I
dined at the Bishop's palace. The Bishop was
most kind and hospitable, and we were all very
merry at table. Frank Buckland afterwards
favoured us with a solo on the French horn.
The Bishop picked some beautiful roses for us to
take back.'

Owen writes to his sister Maria from Dr.
Pusey's, Christ Church, Oxford, on June 26 :
' Cary and I have enjoyed ourselves extremely-
We are master and mistress, after a fashion, of
this house, the Doctor having fled, and liberally
left it for the savans. Cary presided at one end
of a breakfast-table this morning- at which sat
Ehrenberg, Nilsson, Milne-Edwards, Van der
Hoeven, and other distinguished foreigners ; Sir

300

PROFESSOR OWEN ch. ix.

R. H. Inglis, Sir Thomas Acland, Sir Ch.
Lemon, Sir R. Murchison, Mr. Stanley (Bishop
of N .'s '' son), Faraday, Colonel Sabine, Colonel
Sykes, Ed. Forbes, Dr. and Mrs. Acland, &c.,
&c., and did the honours very gracefully and
sweetly. She is becoming quite a favourite at the
Association, and especially of the Marchioness of
Hastings, with whom we spent yesterday evening,
after F.'s° lecture at the Ratcliffe.'

A few weeks after Owen's return to London
Joanna Baillie, who was a relation of John
Hunter's wife, gave him a relic of Hunter in the
shape of a set of buttons which he used to wear.
These buttons, which were of agate mounted
in plain silver, were given to Hunter by a lady
patient, as a token of gratitude for his skill in some
operation. As they looked very handsome, John
Hunter used to wear them at Court. Mrs.
Hunter either gave them or left them to Joanna
and Agnes Baillie on account of their relationship
to her husband. (They are still in the family.)

In August, Owen made up his mind to send
his son to Westminster, and called on the house
master, a Mr. Rigaud. On September 24, 1847,
he wrote to his sister : —

' Willie made his dAut at Westminster School
this morning. The Justice and I conveyed him
yesterday evening to his quarters at Mr. Rigaud's.
As the cab drove up to the low Gothic archway

■* Norwich's ; future Dean of Westminster. ^ Faraday's.

1846-47 HIS SON GOES TO WESTMINSTER 301

leading from Great Dean's to Little Dean's Yard,
some of the older boys who were lounging about
cast significant glances at the box and other
symptoms of the new-caught neophyte. We found
the inmates at Mr. R.'s just about to sit down to
tea, and W. was forthwith marched to the tea-
room and introduced to his schocSlfellows by Mr.
R., and more especially to one Joyce, the eldest of
them, in whose bedroom W. has his crib, and by
whom, I understand, W. will be duly fagged.
After some preliminary business as to pocket
money, periodical visits, and entrance fees,
Broderip and I returned to the tea-room to take
leave, and found W. stirring his cup with his
usual sang-froid, and partaking of fried fish in the
company of about fifteen fine lads. We shall pro-
bably have W. home one Sunday before the Xmas
holidays, by which time we shall know how
Westminster agrees with him and he with West-
minster. . . .

' The other day I met a pleasant party at the
Justice's, consisting of Lockhart, Sir R. Vyvyan,
and Major Shadwell Gierke. We meet again on
Sunday at dinner at Sir R. Vyvyan' s. I ought
to have been dining yesterday at Drayton, Sir R.
Peel having kindly invited me to stay there till
Monday next, but the press of work just now
compels me to forego all holiday visits till next
summer.'

A considerable part of the following September

302 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. IX.

and October was devoted to work on the Sani-
tary Commission, of which Edwin Chadwick
was an active member ; but we see from the
following letter, dated November 5, that Owen
was able to relax his arduous labours on this
public service : —

' I have just returned from the first meeting
this season of the Literary Club, and as we were
favoured by the company of Mr. Brooke, the
Rajah of Sarawak, I am induced to put down
a few notes of the sayings and doings of the
evening, and I believe they will interest you.
It is something to see in real flesh and blood
what one had been accustomed to regard as
a mere myth of the nursery — viz., a man who
had sailed away to seek his fortune, conquered
an island, and become a king. One had supposed
that all such events and possibilities had long since
passed away, and were altogether incompatible
with this prosaic, matter-of-fact age ; but the
history and achievements of the present hero and
lion of the town is a literal paraphrase of the old
fairy-tale adventure. He is a well-built, average-
sized, middle-aged man, with a strong, square,
rather overhanging forehead, and a good spice
of determination marked by a beetling brow,
compensated by a frank, good-natured character
of the mouth and lower part of the face. When
I arrived at the Club — St. James's Palace clock
was striking six as I passed^most of the members

1846-47 RAJAH BROOKE AND HIS SUBJECTS 303

were assembled, and the waiters preparing to set
on the dishes, for Sir Robert is wonderfully
punctual. He, however, spied me out, and before
I could get my wrapper off took me to be intro-
duced to the Rajah. His Excellency was in
conversation with the Chevalier Bunsen. A
most friendly greeting ! There "was a peculiar
link between us in a very humble subject of
Sarawak, a species of orang-utang which I had
described as new, before Mr. Brooke arrived at
Borneo, from a skull that I happened to have the
opportunity of seeing, and which he found to be
well known as a species distinct from the great
orang by the natives. The party sat down as
follows : Sir R. Inglis, Mr. Brooke, Chev.
Bunsen, Baron Alderson, Croly, R. Owen, Chas.
Eastlake, Vice-Chancellor (Shadwell), Sir Fred.
Pollock, Baron Rolfe, Hallam, Sir R. Westmacott,
Mr. Adolphus, Mr. Gregson. Eastlake began
by asking me whether the habits or characteristics
of animals were always indicated by their outward
form, and quoted contradictory opinions he had
had from Lyell and others. The Vice-Chancellor
waxed warm at the indignity put upon the Eton
boys by having been invited by the Queen to see
Wombwell's menagerie. He vowed he would not
have gone ; it was treating them like a charity
school. Sir Fred, fed the fire by intimating that
buns had been served out to them, to which Rolfe
added, " Elderberry wine." Croly argued it was

304 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ix.

meant well, and should have been well taken.
Had some chat with Eastlake about Westminster :
he has two nephews at Mr. Rigaud's. . . .
Hearing the word " Westminster," Croly broke in
by asking me if Buckland was not in point of
fact a great humbug. I defended the Dean to
the best of my ability against the battery of wit
and sarcasm brought to bear against him. As to
the hyaenas in Kirkdale, these and all the other
groups of fossils were clearly explicable to Croly
by the fact of there having been grand battues
after the deluge. As men spread they rose en
masse against the wild beasts, killed the hysenas
off at one go in Yorkshire, for example, and buried
them in the Kirkdale Cave. Then as to the sea,
three-fourths of the earth was covered by it ; it
had its hills and valleys, there might still exist
broods of Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri, which
might live for years or all their lives without
coming to the surface or ever being seen. I
replied that an ichthyosaur could not have lived
an hour, probably, submerged, without being
drowned, because it had lungs and breathed air.
Croly contended against the possibility of our
knowing that fact without having dissected a living
animal. I showed how our knowledge of such
was as certain as that of Leverrier's of the planet
which, perhaps, he has never yet himself seen.
It was a curious example of the impossibility,
after a certain age and habit of thought, of the

1846-47 THE 'O' IN O'CONNELL

305

reception of a new train of ideas. Mr. Brooke, in
walking home with me, expressed strongly his
sentiments as to accepting truth in whatever form
it pleased God to vouchsafe it to us. Some
pleasant bantering passed on the subject of Mr.
Brooke's excluding lawyers from his dominions.
The characters of the natives of Borneo and their
language were discussed. Some anecdotes of
O'Connell were told. His proper family name
was " Connell," and so of all his family for some
generations ; he did not assume the " O " till he
got some property from an uncle, who made it by
smuggling, and whose abode was a notorious receiv-
ing house for run goods on the coast of Derrynane.
We had a discussion about Lamartine and his
" History of the Girondins," and my end of the table
was much interested by some of my revelations
from the secrets of the prison-houses at Paris —
Hallam in particular. He had no idea that such
documents were preserved as those I examined
at the Prefecture of Police.'

On December 3 Owen was nominated a
member of the Commission of Sewers ; ' not a
very pleasant task,' he writes, ' as people strongly
dislike being told of duties which they have been
neglecting.' In a letter dated December 6, he
refers to the reason of this new Commission —
viz. the report issued by the Commissioners for
the Health of the Metropolis, &c. 'I call it

VOL. I. X

3o6 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ix.

ours,' he says, 'but it is chiefly Chadwick's
and Southwood Smith's. My share was hunting
up some of the cholera evidence, and general
revision before it vs^ent to press. . . . The
Government have acted promptly on the main
recommendation— viz. the quashing of the old and
the formation of a new general Commission, a step
essential to the carrying out on an adequate scale
experiments to determine the best and cheapest
modes of street and house drainage. The results
of these experiments will alter the mode of sewer-
age in all London first, then in provincial towns,
next in Continental towns, where, in Paris even,
they have as bad or worse modes of sewerage than
with us. The amount of typhus and other deadly
disease which will thereby be prevented is scarcely
calculable, but will be enormous ; a healthy,
cleanly, and moral population will be substituted
for the present unfortunate and oppositely charac-
terised habitants of the courts, alleys, and small
streets ; and the blessings will extend far beyond
the points immediately in view. The new consoli-
dated Commission for London is for two years —
time enough, I believe, to determine the merits of
the new system., We work gratis to avoid the
chances of obstruction from the cry that would be
raised by the 800 cashiered Commissioners of
" Government job." I lend the little aid I can
give most willingly to help forward this great
work, though some jealousies and misconceptions

1846-47 WESTMINSTER PLAY 307

attend such enlargement of my sphere of public
utility.'

As Owen anticipated, his duties as Com-
missioner were not always particularly pleasant.
' He was to have taken the chair this evening
at " The Club," ' his wife writes in the journal
(December 14), 'but was obliged'to get off. He
had been too much harassed all day for anything
but to stay at home. Commission again ! '

On the 19th we have the following entry :
' R. went to Westminster to see the Latin play.
He said the play was all very well, but he could
not help thinking of the accommodation provided
for the boys. They had to stand four hours in
a cramped, crowded, and exceedingly close place,
without much possibility of moving. R. supped
with Mr. Rigaud and the boys.'

In this year also may be mentioned the foun-
dation of the Palseontographical Society, of which
Owen was one of the heartiest supporters. This
society, which had for its object the figuring
and describing British fossils, owed its origin to
the London Clay Club, formed by Bowerbank,
Edwards, Searles Wood, Morris, Alfred White,
and Wetherell in 1836, for the purpose of inquir-
ing into the fauna and flora of the London Clay.
In 1847, after the paper by Joseph Prestwich at
the Geological Society, ' On the Structure of the
London Clay,' Bowerbank urged the geologists
present in the tea-room to support him in esta-

X 2

3o8 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. ix.

blishing a society for the publication of unde-
scribed British fossils. Buckland, De la Beche,
Fitton, Owen, and others gave him their names,
and thus the Palseontographical Society came into
existence.®

' Geological Magazine, 1877, p. 192.

1848-49 ARCHETYPE OF THE SKELETON 309

CHAPTER X

1848-49

' The Archetype and Homologies of the Vertebrate Skeleton,' 1848
— The Cuming Shell Collection — The Great Sea-serpent —
Emerson and Guizot — Literary Work and Lectures — Death ot
Mr. and Mrs. Clift, 1849 — Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte^
Member of the Commission on Smithfield Market.

In January 1848 a correspondent wrote to Owen
asking permission to publish his ' Archetype of
the Skeleton.' The following reply is interesting
as containing Owen's views on the origin of
species : —

'As I do not know the secondary cause by
which it may have pleased the Creator to intro-
duce organised species into this planet, I have
never expressed orally or in print an opinion on
the subject. Whenever in the course of special
investigations I have ftiet with phenomena bearing
upon the hypothetical secondary cause to which
you allude, I have pointed out such bearing
incidentally ; but the hypothesis itself, " transmu-
tation of specific characters," which is always
coupled with the idea of a specific direction — viz.
upwards — has not been the subject of any express

3IO PROFESSOR OWEN CH. x.

writing or discourse of mine. It has struck me
chiefly as an instance of the extreme barrenness of
the human mind in the invention of hypotheses
when not guided thereto by observation and
experiment. Transmutation of species in the
ascending course is one of six possible secondary
causes of species apprehended by me, and the least
probable of the six. When I remarked to the
(reputed) author of " Vestiges," the last time
he visited the museum, how servilely the old
idea had been followed by De Maillet, Mirabeau
(not the politician), Lamarck, and the author of ,
" Vestiges " — viz. of" progressive development" —
and that there were five more likely ways of intro-
ducing a new species, he asked suddenly and
eagerly, "What are they?" I declined to give
him the information, but shortly after brought
prominently, under his notice the facts that might
have suggested one, at least, of the more likely
ways. He saw nothing of their bearing, and
I shall refrain from publishing my ideas on this
matter till I get more evidence.'

About a fortnight afterwards Owen wrote a
second letter to this correspondent, in which he
says : ' With regard to the hypothesis of progres-
sive development and transmutation of species, it
you still desire me to state what my present opinion
is, I beg to say that it continues the same as that
expressed in the concluding summary of my second
report on British Fossil Reptiles (" Reports of

1848-49 HIS VIEWS ON THE ARCHETYPE 311

British Association," 1841, pp. 196-202). And I
have no objection to your adding, as my reply to
your inquiry of my present sentiments on the
subject, that if the Creator has been pleased to
employ in the production of organised species
any secondary influences or causes — of which no
satisfactory proof has been adduced — present evi-
dence, from anatomy and physiology, is against the
hypothesis of the existence and operation in any
living species of self-developing energies adequate
to a change and exaltation of specific characters ;
but that the actual state of anatomical and physio-
logical science is suggestive of other secondary
causes, which seem to me to be more probable
as operative in the production of species than
" transmutation and development," as advocated
by De Maillet and Lamarck ; but that these other
" secondary causes " are hypothetical, and require
much additional observation and experimental
testing before they can merit public attention.'

In' 1848 his work 'On the Archetype and
Homologies of the Vertebrate Skeleton ' ap-
peared. As early as 1846, at the British Associa-
tion meeting held at Southampton, Owen put for-
ward the views which he extended and explained in
this book. These views were further illustrated
in his work on the ' Anatomy of Fishes,' and more
especially in his book ' On the Nature of Limbs.'
Owen's ideas were based upon the observations
of Loren2 Oken, and were designed to show

312

PROFESSOR OWEN ch. x.

that all vertebrate structure might be reduced to
one single type, figured in one of the bones of the
human spine, from which ideal type he went on
to show that all other vertebrate structure could
be built up by an infinite variety of modifications.
He argued further that the skull of the vertebrated
animals was in fact only a modified arrangement
of four backbones — each modified vertebra having
an organ of sense, such as taste, smell, sight, and
so on, at the front or anterior part of its bony

ring.

Dr. St. George Mivart,^ in discussing Owen's
hypotheses, refers to the theory of the archetype,
held by both Oken and Owen, as one which,
he supposes, ' no one now maintains.' ' Never-
theless, these theories, when they were first
promulgated here, produced no slight effect, for
they drew many thoughtful minds towards ques-
tions of biology, and they roused an antagonism
which has also led to much valuable work. We
believe them to have been, in these different
ways, very serviceable to science, but we also
think that they embodied, or were the mis^
taken outcome of, some deep and very signi-
ficant truths which are, in general, far too little
appreciated, a wave of sentiment and the in-
fluence of a party (which could do much to make
or mar a young man's progress) having combined

1 Natural Science, 1893, p. 20.

1848-49 HUGH CUMING'S COLLECTION OF SHELLS 313

to indispose many minds towards a dispassionate
appreciation of them.'

At this time Owen's mind was much oc-
cupied with another consideration. The re-
markable collection of shells formed by Hugh
Cuming had been offered for sale to the British
Museum. The importance of this series was so
great in Owen's eyes that he wrote a strong
appeal in January 1848, filling thirteen quarto
pages, to Dean Buckland (a Trustee of the Bri-
tish Museum), urging upon him the necessity of
the purchase. From this appeal we give a few
extracts : —

' I may briefly state that this collection, as
now offered to the British Museum, contains
upwards of 19,000 species and varieties of shells,
represented by about 60,000 specimens ; and that
not only is every specimen entire, but choice and
perfect of its kind, as respects form, texture,
colour, and other characters that give it value in
the eyes of the shell-collector.

' As I can affirm from my personal knowledge,
and from authentic sources of information, that no
public collection in Europe possesses one-half the
number of species of shells that are now in the
Cumingian Collection . . . you may judge of the
vast proportion of rarities and unique specimens
possessed by Mr. Cuming. It is this which has
given him for some years past the command, so
to speak, of all the conchological cabinets in

314 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. x.

Europe. He is better known and respected, and
his labours more truly and generally appreciated
in any city or town in Europe having a public
Natural History Museum and Professor than in
busy London. . . . Mr. Cuming in his annual visits
to the Continent carries with him the inferior
duplicates of his rarities, representing species
with the sight of which the eyes of the foreign
naturalist are gladdened for the first time. They
open to him their treasures in return, and from
most of the collections of Europe Mr. Cuming
has borne away the prized species or specimens,
in exchange for the still rarer and more valuable
shells which his abundance has enabled him to
offer, without detriment to his own rich stores.

' The mode in which Mr. Cuming has ob-
tained this conchological wealth is as novel and
exemplary as the result is important and mar-
vellous, considered as the work of one individual.
Not restricting his pursuit to the stores and
shops of the curiosity-mongers of our seaports, or
depending on casual opportunities of obtaining
rarities by purchase, he has devoted more than
thirty of the best years of his life to arduous and
hazardous personal exertion — dredging, diving,
wading, wandering, under the equator and
through the tropics to the temperate zones, both
north and south, in the Atlantic, in the Pacific,
in the Indian Ocean and in the islands of its rich
archipelago — in the labour of obtaining from their

1848-49 APPEAL TO DEAN BUCKLAND 315

native seas, shores, lakes, rivers and forests the
marine, fluviatile, and terrestrial mollusks, 60,000
of whose shelly skeletons, external and internal,
are accumulated in orderly series in the cabinets
with which the floors of his house now groan. I
never think of the casualties to which such a
collection in such a place is subject without a
shudder. . . . Perhaps one of , the most striking
points in the estimate of the scientific value of an
extensive collection like Mr. Cuming's, arises out
of its relation to the present active pursuit of
Geology as an indispensable instrument to the
determination of fossil shells. No one can give
higher sanction than yourself to any expression
of the importance of well-determined fossils, and
especially shells, to a right knowledge of the
relative age and position of, the stratum in which
they were embedded ; and the geologists' con-
fidence in results based upon fossil conchology
must be in the ratio of the extent of the com-
parison with recent shells that has been gone
through in the determination of the fossil shells,
and especially before a species is pronounced to
be extinct. . . .

' This, however, is but one of its scientific
uses. From the period when the Atlantic,
American, and Polynesian departments of the
Cumingian Collection reached England, in 1831,
scientific conchologists have there found subjects
without intermission for their descriptions, and

3i6 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. x.

the novelties were far from being exhausted
when Mr. Cuming, having undertaken a third
exploring voyage, returned in 1840 from Manilla,
stored with the conchological riches of the Indian
Ocean, which have subsequently kept the pens of
competent describers of new genera and species
actively at work, and will so supply them for
years to come. Thus the Cumingian Collection
has directly advanced the science of conchology
in an unexampled degree, and possesses the same
peculiar claims upon the Government, or custo-
dians of the national collection here which
Linnseus's Herbarium did upon the Swedish
State. Mr. Cuming's collection contains, for
example, the originals from which many hundred
new species of shells have been described in the
scientific periodicals or systematic works pub-
lished since its arrival in this country.

' Any doubt that may arise through the in-
completeness or obscurity of the description, or
from the inaptitude of the student, may be decided
at once by reference to the original specimens.
These "types of the species" become, therefore,
an instrument of great importance to the progress
of the science in the country in which they are
preserved and made accessible. . . . Delay in
securing for the nation the Cumingian types of
new species of shells may involve the necessity
of crossing the Atlantic in order to compare
and verify the descriptions and synonyms of

1848-49 THE PRICE OF CUMING'S COLLECTION 317

Broderip, Sowerby, Gray, Reeve, and other emi-
nent conchologists. . . .

' The value of a shell, as of a jewel, depends
much upon its rarity, and is to that extent artifi-
cial. The concha unica, which to-day commands
the sum of twenty pounds, shall, next week,
when a score of specimens have come into the
market, fall in price to as many shillings. Still,
the commonest exotic shell, if it be perfect and
well coloured, and taken from a living mollusk, as
is the case with the Cumingian Collection, from
which "dead" shells have been strictly excluded,
finds its market.

' I am given to understand, by competent
authorities, that the sum of 6,000/. asked by Mr.
Cuming in 1846 does not exceed two-thirds of
the most moderate estimate of the present market
value of his subsequently augmented collection.

' That ten times that sum would not bring
together such a series as Mr. Cuming has offered
to the British Museum I do firmly believe, from
a knowledge of the peculiar tact in discovering
and collecting, the hardy endurance of the
attendant fatigue under deadly climes and
influences, arid the undaunted courage in en-
countering the adverse elements and braving the
opposition of the savage inhabitants of seldom-
visited isles, which have conduced and concurred
to crown the labours of Mr. Cuming with a
success of which his unrivalled collection is a

3i8 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. X.

fitting monument, and of which science, and, let us
,hope, its cultivators in his native country more
particularly, will long continue to reap the
benefits.'

The British Museum purchased the collection
in 1866.

Owen's power of concentration and absorp-
tion in a subject which interested him, was not
confined to professional or scientific matters.
We find that on January 22, ' after having
heard a lecture of Whewell's, he went on to
the Club,^ and took up Thackeray's " Vanity
Fair " to read. He became so deeply absorbed in
the book that he sat on, oblivious of the fact that
everyone else had disappeared one by one. He
was also apparently deaf to coughs and hints of
attendants, &c. ; but still sat there reading and
laughing to himself. At last in desperation the
men came forward and began to take away the
lamps. Then, having looked at his watch and found
it considerably past 2 a.m., he rushed wildly out of
the Club, and, like a scientific Cinderella, left his
umbrella and great-coat behind.'

He watched for the monthly numbers' of
Dickens's works with great eagerness, and read
them with much enjoyment as they came out.
On February 29 No. 18 of ' Dombey ' appeared,
and he ' stayed up very late reading it.' He thus
states his opinion as to the manner of Carker's

^ The AthenEEum.

1848-49 SKELETON OF 'MOA' BURNED 319

death, which is related in that number : ' The
character of Carker as drawn throughout the book
makes it evident to me that he was not the man
either to act or to be acted upon in such a way ;
not but that the scene is wrought up by a master-
hand.'

On March 11 the last proofs of the 'Arche-
type ' were sent to press.

During this month he carefully arranged the
moa'' bones which had been sent him by Colonel
Wakefield. ' R. has made up one terrible-looking
leg, which he intends to keep as a memento ; the
rest he has been sorting out on the floor in the
library, with papers full of various bones, after
their kind, lying all around.'

Owen had a disappointment this year with
regard to the bones of the moa, for Sir George
Grey, then Governor of New Zealand, had been
busily collecting for him, but unfortunately his
house and most of its contents were destroyed
by fire.

' I lost,' Sir George wrote to him, ' all my
plate, china, linen, wine, and the most valuable of
my books, besides curiosities, native songs of differ-
ent countries, and objects of natural history, which
I had been many years in collecting. I n your depart-
ment I lost a magnificent collection of moa bones,
including a complete skeleton of the largest moa
which had ever been found. I had three complete

' Native name of Dinornis.

320 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. X.

moa heads of different species, two complete (as I
believe) spurs of the wings such as the kiwi has,
and bones belonging to severctl genera of the
moa of which I have seen no description. I had
also a fossil bone believed to have been the bone
of a quadruped, and many bones of the moa
which had been gnawed by some large animal —
some of them had been even crunched, as you
could see the marks of the teeth of each jaw at
the point of separation where the bone had been
crunched off. I had also specimens of a new bird
allied to the kiwi, but much larger and differently
marked ; said now to be extinct. It inhabits the
Middle Island, and is what has been taken for the
moa there. I had also many specimens of the
kakapo, and I am almost afraid to say it, but
bones which we all regarded as the rudimentary
wings of the moa, to which the spurs corre-
sponded — these have all now vanished in the
flames, but I will in the course of this summer
endeavour to collect again as much as I can. . . .'
This year London was considerably disturbed
by the Chartist riots. ' The bigger Westminster
boys are made special constables, but R. came in
with the news that the mob had evaporated, and
that the petition was carried to the House in a
cab ! He went on to Sir Robert Peel's to inquire
after Lady Peel." The windows all closely shut
and barred. At Gwydyr House he could not
get in at first, but when in he found all the

1848-49 CHARTIST RIOTS 321

v/indows shut and barricaded with the toughest
matter they could think of — heaps of Blue-books.
Meanwhile Mr. Pentland came in. He has been
to the Deanery, where he says Dr. Buckland is
very busy preparing for any demonstration on the
part of the mob, enrolling special constables, &c.
The Dean says (according to Mr. P.) that if they
should attempt the Abbey by Poet's Corner he
himself will stand and knock down everyone as
he enters with a crowbar. Now that the bear is
gone, the eagle is the chief pet there. There are
likewise tortoises in the yard, and they lead a sad
life from the eagle, who is in the habit of testing
the hardness of their shells with his beak and
claws.'

In April, Owen wrote a long letter to his
sister Eliza, descriptive of the progress of his
Hunterian Lectures at the College. He says : —

' I had imagined that the views were too
general for the extent of subject embraced for an
anatomical audience, and I was* pleased to hear
our President, who was complimenting me this
morning, regret that he could not quite follow all
the minute details which passed with me for the
broad outlines of the sketch. It only shows how
differently the lecturer and audience are situated,
and how necessary it is to address oneself to the
least informed.' He then refers to his sanitary
work, and says : ' If I could bear to quit my dear
anatomy, more profitable Commissionerships might

VOL. I. Y

322 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. x.

be had, but we are creatures of habit ; the
longing for the wonted scrutiny into unknown
organisations would become uncontrollable, and
happiness as well as usefulness, in a career for
which I am peculiarly qualified, would be sacri-
ficed at a very dear rate for a few more hundred
pounds a year.'

After an account of a dinner at Sir Robert
Peel's, where the possible action of the Chartists
on the following day was discussed among other
subjects, Owen refers to his ' Archetype of the
Skeleton ' in the following words : ' I have
brought out my " Archetype " book ; Van Voorst
sells it for los., and is to give me 6^. 6d. for each
copy. He has taken 150 copies. Chapman took
fifty, and accounts to me for ys. 6d. for each,
selling at 10^.'

His passion for anatomy was strong enough
to withstand the slight inconveniences connected
with the rooms which Owen inhabited at the
College of Surgeons. The following entry in the
diary of his wife shows that she also made light
of them for her husband's sake : —

' Great trampling and rushing upstairs past
our bedroom door. Asked R. if the men were
dancing the polka on the stairs. He said "No ;
what you hear is the body being carried upstairs.
They are dissecting for fellowship to-day ! " R. en-
gaged with the dissectors.'

Tn September we find that one of the aurochs

1848-49 THE GREAT SEA-SERPENT 323

at , the Zoological Gardens died, and provided
Owen with a subject for dissection and description
in a paper which he contributed to the Zoological
Society.

In the following month Sir Robert Peel pre-
sented him with an enormous trout weighing
22^ lbs., caught in the Tame, near Tam worth. 'It
is an extraordinarily handsome fish,' Owen writes
(November 6), 'with most brilliant colours.' A por-
trait of this huge fish was painted shortly after-
wards, and was presented by Sir Robert Peel to
Professor Owen.

But another water-monster was then occupying
public attention. Several persons of undoubted
veracity declared that they had seen the ' Great
Sea-serpent,' and brought much corroborative
detail into their accounts, which were clearly given
in good faith. The description given of a sea-
monster which was reported to have been seen
by the officers and crew of H.M.S. 'Daedalus'
attracted more than the usual notice, for the posi-
tion and intelligence of the observers guaranteed
the truth of their story. Considerable correspon-
dence ensued, and Owen made a strong attack upon
the identification of the creature, and extended
his arguments so as to include the improbability
or mistaken nature of other statements which had
preceded it. He founded his arguments on the
fact that in all the stories and drawings of supposed
great sea-serpents there was no undulation at al

324 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. X.

of the body, or else it was a vertical one, which is
not characteristic of serpents, and further, that no
remains had ever been discovered washed up on
any coast. He adds : ' Now, a serpent being an
air-breathing animal, dives with an effort, and
commonly floats when dead, and so would the
sea-serpent, until decomposition or accident had
opened the tough integument and let out the
imprisoned gases. . . . During life the exigencies
of the respiration of the great sea-serpent would
always compel him frequently to the surface, and
when dead and swollen it would

Prone on the flood, extended long and large,
Lie floating many a rood.

Such a spectacle, demonstrative of the species if
it existed, has not hitherto met the gaze of any of
the countless voyagers who have traversed the
seas in so many directions.'

On November 9 Owen sent a letter to the
' Times ' in explanation of an account of the great
sea-serpent, saying that he was anxious through
that paper to give his opinion once for all, as he
continued to receive many applications for it.

Early in 1849 we find him acknowledging the
receipt of a communication made to him from the
Prince Consort through Sir Charles Phipps on the
same subject. In this letter he states his opinion
that the ' animal ' seen from the deck of the
' Daedalus ' was the head and track of a great seal,

1848-49 POPULAR FALLACIES DESTROYED 325

or sea-lion. On February 22, 1849, he had an
opportunity of personally explaining his views to
the Prince, who attended one of his lectures,
and went round the museum afterwards with him
accompanied by Sir Robert Peel.

About this time there was another sea-serpent
seen, of which the particulars were sent to Owen
by the Duke of Northumberland. This Owen
demonstrated to be the ribbon-fish from the draw-
ing which was sent. ' Punch ' soon had a parody on
the subject —

Who killed the sea-serpent ?

' I,' said Professor Owen.

' Scotched, not killed,' was Owen's 'comment
on this. Another popular delusion which he set
himself to dispel was the idea that a toad would
live years, if not centuries, shut up without air or
food in coal or rock. In defence of this it was
urged that in breaking up lumps of rock, &c.,
which had never been disturbed before, toads
occasionally emerged, not only alive, but in excel-
lent health and condition. Mrs. Owen relates
how she detected an ingenious fraud which was
got up ' with intent to deceive ' her husband.

' A piece of stratified coal sent from Yorkshire,
together with a black-coloured toad, and the story
is that this lump of coal was split open accidentally,
and in an oval-shaped hole a toad was found alive
and well. How long, then, was the toad living in
that lump of coal ?

326 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. x.

' R. was extremely busy, and asked me to
investigate and report on it. After looking at the
two pieces of coal I began to wonder whether the
two edges of the hole coincided exacdy, which of
course they ought to do, as the lump of coal was
split right in the middle. After carefully taking
an impression of the edges on some paper by
inking them, and then placing them in juxtaposi-
tion, I ceased to wonder. It was quite plain the
whole thing was a fraud. Yet there must have
been much trouble spent on it, for the hole was
carefully coloured with the same stuff as the toad
was, and the tout ensemble was most plausible.'

Amongst the entries for June we find a de-
scription of Emerson, whom Owen met at a
friend's house. ' Emerson is a tall, thin, gentle-
looking man, with a reflective expression, good
regular features, with dark hair, smooth and thin,
and, I think, dark grey eyes. Much pleasant con-
versation at dinner. Mr. E. not at all positive in
his manner, and very liberal in his general views.
We all went to the Marylebone Institution after-
wards, Emerson having just preceded us. The
lecture was on the " Superlative." I like Mr.
Emerson far better in conversation than as a
lecturer. His manner in lecturing is studiously
flat and cold. The matter good, but not strik-
ing. Long quotations from a Persian poet. The
room quite full ; saw Lady Franklin there.'

'June 30. — Mr. Emerson here for several

1848-49 EMERSON AND GUIZOT 327

hours. R. went round the museum with him. A
friend came with him, and both seemed much
interested. Afterwards Mr. Emerson and his
friend went with R. to Turner, R.A., to look at
his pictures. Turner was out, but they got in
and saw the pictures all the same.'

Owen has left a brief record of his meeting with
Guizot at the Literary Club. Some years pre-
viously he had met him at the Zoological Gardens
informally, but on this occasion, he says, ' I was
brought forward and introduced as "the Cuvier
of England" (I wish they would be content to
let me be the Owen of England), when Guizot,
politely bowing, said he was glad to find there
was a Cuvier in England. Not bad that, but
rather sly. He is a very interesting, fine old
gentleman. I'll tell you exactly what he said
when Sir Robert proposed his health. " Gentle-
men, I feel very deeply de honour you have
done me. It is eight years ago I sit in dis room, in
de same company, receiving den de same honour.
I was den de Ministere of a great king. I am
now, gentlemen, I may say truf, a poor exile, but
you receive me just wid de same honour, de same
kindness, de same friendly hospitality. Gentle-
men, I tank you from de bodom of my heart."

' There were present the Bishop of St.
Davids, Lord Northampton, Vice-Chancellor,
General Sir Howard Douglas, Colonel Leake,
Mr. Adolphus, Mr. Kenyon, Mr. Eastlake, Mr.

328 PROFESSOR OWEN CH^ X.

Lockharc, Professor Twiss, Mr. Key, Sir Francis
Palgrave, Mr. Hallam, Sir R. Inglis, and one or
two more besides R. O. I sat next but two
to Guizot, and had some interesting conversa-
tion with him about Cuvier and the Garden of
Plants.'

Early in the summer Mrs. Owen writes : ' We
saw to-day in Great Queen Street one of the evils
of the Smithfield Catde Market. A conveyance
such as is used for large flat articles, like pictures,
&c., passed, drawn by two horses, and tied down
on it lay a black bull with enormous horns. Three
or four men were sitting on the bull, and I noticed
a red mark on its neck as though it had been
goaded. R. discovered that the bull first ran from
Smithfield, and after wounding several people and
attacking the gate-keeper at Stone Buildings (who
saved himself by shutting the gates), he rushed at
a gentleman who was entering the Square from
Stone Buildings, and after butting him, ran one of
his horns into the poor fellow's left temple. They
carried the gentleman off in a senseless state to
King's College Hospital, where the house surgeon
recognised him as an old friend and schoolfellow of
his. The bull was chased back through Chancery
Lane, Holborn, and nearly as far as Smithfield,
when it rushed over a bar into a little court called
" Fox and Knot," where it was at last caught by
ropes let down from the houses. These occur-
rences are by no means rare. The animals get

1848--49 FEVER AT WESTMINSTER 329

perfectly frantic at Smithfield, and R. says it is
high time the thing was properly looked into.'

How badly the Commission on Drainage, &c.,
was needed we can see from the following entry : —

May 8. — ' Mr. Rigaud, house master at
Westminster, here. The state of things round
about Dean's Yard is something terrible. The
school is broken up in consequence of the fever.
The Dean is ill, the Canons, the masters, and boys
— some boys are dying. Mr. Rigaud's little girl
and their good old negro butler fell early victims
to this attack.'

' 22nd. — The Westminster fever business dis-
cussed at the Commission at Gwydyr House
to-day.'

Many and strange were the remedies pro-
posed : —

' R. busy reading an extraordinary paper,
which had been sent him for his opinion, treating
on a cure for cholera. It is a quackish concern,
but Lord John Russell and Lord -Lansdowne were
taken in by it. R. Is much disgusted with the
thing, and has written his opinion pretty plainly.'

The drainage at Westminster was improved
early in the autumn. ' On September 21, R. was
again at Gwydyr House, and found that much has
been done with regard to the drains at Dean's Yard.
The huge ancient sewer is filled up now with
rubbish, and everything has been carefully over-
hauled.'

330 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. x.

The task of the Commissioners was a some-
what thankless one, even though their services
were entirely unpaid in this instance. ' Article
this morning (November 15) in paper, calling R.
a " jack-of-all-trades," « /r(7/<7^ of his multifarious
duties — sewage, anatomy, health of towns, and
geology.'

This Commission work, in fact, brought so
many fresh things to light which it was absolutely
necessary should be inquired into that Owen
thought he could not possibly give his attention to
all that it entailed, and therefore announced his
intention of resigning. He received the following
letter on the subject from Mr. (afterwards Sir
Edwin) Chadwick, a fellow-Commissioner, who
became a lifelong friend and was in after years
the near neighbour of Professor Owen : —

' Dear Owen, — I wrote to Lord Morpeth that
you wished to retire from the Metropolitan Sewers
Commission. In a letter of to-day he says :

' " I do very much lament the intention of Pro-
fessor Owen to retire. We cannot, indeed, spare
his enlightened philanthropy.

' " Could you not in our joint name beg him at
least to belong to us at first ? "

' Unless you give me insuperable reasons I
shall still clap down your name.

' Yours ever,

' E. Chadwick.'

1848-49 ENGLISH IN TERTIARY TIMES 331

Owen did not carry out his intention of resign-
ing his Commissionership — on the contrary, he
stayed on the Sewers Commission until its work
was completed, and also served on the subsequent
Commission on Smithfield Market, &c.

The year 1 849 was marked by the appearance
of Owen's memoirs ' On the Nature of Limbs,'
and on ' Parthenogenesis' — a term which he himself
devised in order to designate scientifically the phe-
nomenon which that name implies. He com-
menced a remarkable series of papers on the fossil
birds of New Zealand at this time in the ' Trans-
actions of the Zoological Society,' ' On Dinornis '
(Parts I. and II.) as also various papers on some
fossil mammals of Australia. Mention must be
also made of the series of monographs which he
prepared for the Palaeontological Society on
British fossil vertebrates, including a memoir on
the fossil reptiles of the London Clay (1849-50).
This monograph contains the following remarks
concerning the former existence of crocodiles and
alligators in England, which may be found of
interest : —

' Had any human being,' he says, ' existed [in
Tertiary times] and traversed the land where now
the south of Britain rises from the ocean, he might
have witnessed the crocodile cleaving the waters
of its native river with the velocity of an arrow, and
ever and anon rearing its long and slender snout
above the waves, and making the banks re-echo with

332 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. x.

the loud, sharp snappings of its formidably-armed
jaws. He might have watched the deadly struggle
between the crocodile and the palseothere, and
have been himself warned by the hoarse and deep
bellowings of the alligator from the dangerous
vicinity of its retreat. Our fossil evidences supply
us with ample materials for this most strange pic-
ture of the animal life of ancient Britain ; and what
adds to the singularity and interest of the restored
tableau vivant is the fact that it could not now
be presented in any part of the world. The same
forms of crocodilian reptile, it is true, still exist ;
but the habitats of the crocodile and the alligator
are wide asunder, thousands of miles of land and
ocean intervening : one is peculiar to the tropical
rivers of continental Asia ; the other is restricted
to the warmer latitudes of North and South
America ; both forms are excluded from Africa, ■
in the rivers of which continent true crocodiles
alone are found. Not one representative of the
crocodilian order naturally exists in any part of
Europe ; yet every form of the order once
flourished in close proximity to each other in a
territory which now forms part of England.'

Amongst the other papers which he found time
to write may be mentioned the ' Anatomy of the
Apteryx ' (' Zoological Transactions '), ' On the
Hippopotamus ' (at the Zoological Gardens), in
the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History,'
and also the first of a long series of papers on

1848-49 THE COLLEGE ORATION 333

' Osteological Contributions to the Natural History
of the Chimpanzees ' (' Zoological Transactions ').
. Some of the incidents which occurred in 1849
are thus noticed in the diary : —

'Jamiary 10. — The author of " Orion," Mr.
Home, came to dinner, and brought a copy of his
poem, now in its sixth edition. The object of his
coming was to get information from R. regarding
the structure and powers of the eye. He is
evidently thinking of making Orion regain his
sight. '

'February 4. — R. sent a ticket for his lec-
ture, the College Oration, to T. Carlyle. On
the 6th Carlyle wrote a characteristic letter in
return for the ticket. He is evidently pleased
at having been remembered.'

' 2,tk. — After dinner went up to the study^
.where R. had all his diagrams laid out on the floor
ready for to-morrow's lecture, and I had the whole
lecture to myself, seated in a comfortable chair.
R. was anxious to ascertain what I, as an aver-
agely informed member of a "general" audience,
found clear, and also what I thought wanted a
commentary or explanation. He agreed to modify
and alter a few points, and there were also some
slight retouchings wanted in the diagrams.'

' 14M. — Prince Albert came to hear the oration
at the College to-day at three o'clock. The Body
Corporate had made preparations to receive the
royal guest, but they went to the beadle's little

334 PROFESSOR' OWEN CH. x.

office across the hall, ready to issue forth when
Ford should give notice of the royal carriage. At
a few minutes to three, R., who was in the dining-
room laughing and talking with my father and
mother, left the room with the gentlemen as they
went to take their places in the theatre, and just
as he was going in at the hall door a carriage
drove rapidly up, and he was the only person in
the way to receive Prince Albert, and so had to
introduce the President to him as he and the
others came bundling out of the office into the
hall. The Prince joked a great deal about R.
being the sea-serpent killer. After the oration
the College gave a dinner — their first experiment
of dining chez eux. All was brought from the
F"reemasons', and the dessert, &c., was laid out
(preparatively) in R.'s study. The Prince did not
stay to dinner, but amongst the guests were
Hallam, Sir R. Peel, Bishop of Oxford, Captain
Sir Everard Home. When the Bishop had
finished grace in his mild, quiet way, the toast-
master, leaning forward as when giving out the
toasts, said with a loud voice " A-men." On this
unexpected response the Bishop's mouth twitched,
and he gave one comical look across to where R.
sat. The speeches were of various qualities and
quantities, but certainly the Captain's (Sir Everard
Home's) was one of the best for its brevity, its
simple good sense, and its heartiness. He looks,
as he has for the last thirty years, a big, fair,

i848~49 EVIDENCE BEFORE HOUSE OF COMMONS 335

serious and rather pretty Brobdignag cherub, but
is no cherub in sense ; whatever he says is to the
point, and good feeHng and thorough truthfulness
are always at the bottom of it.'

' 15M. — R. dining with the " Red Lions." He
was to-day at the British Museum Committee of
the House of Commons giving' evidence. R.'s
statements and evidence caused much sensation.'

'March 13. — Lecture L for 1849.* Last
night R. read to me his first introductory lec-
ture for criticisms, &c. The whole course this
season is intensely interesting. This introductory
lecture is split up into two parts. They are to be
published at once.'

' \']th. — Mr. Mitchell called to say that the
Zoological Gardens had made another acquisition
— bower birds, two males and a female, brought
over alive. R. was talking it over this evening,
and he remarked, a propos of the bower bird
building with bright-looking shells, stones, &c.,
that it might be a remnant of such a propensity
as causes a magpie to carry off and hide glittering
objects.'

' 2\st. — To-night a letter from the Admiralty
to R., enclosing one from Admiral Sir C. Napier
describing a sea-serpent. The first lieutenant's
drawing (a good one) was sent too. R. soon had
an idea which seems a satisfactory one.'

' 2 2;«^.— To-day I drew the explanation of the

^ Hunterian Lectures, ' On Invertebrata.'

336 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. x.

sea-serpent, one for the Admiralty and one for
home.' I also got Ainsworth's " Lancashire
Witches " for R. I always get these sort of
books for him during lecture season, as the best
sort of relaxation after hard work.'

On March 29 Owen writes to his sister that
at a dinner at Lord Carlisle's he sat next to
Charles Dickens and had much pleasant conver-
sation with him, and in the same letter he says :
' Yesterday we had J. M. W. Turner to dinner
here, and I took him with Willie to Lincoln's
Inn Chapel, and then to the Zoological Gardens.'

The diary then contains the following entries :'■ —

'April 14. — Mr. Duncan here. He is our
Charge d'Affaires at Dahomey. It seems a
present of peacocks is to be given to the King
there, in order to induce him to make us a
present of a hippopotamus.'

' 2\st. — Two amusing envelopes to-day. One
from France, addressed to " Sir Owen, Directeur
de I'Academie des Sciences a Londres,' the other
from Perm (wherever that may be), addressed to
' Son Eccellence Richard de Ouen.' This last
was concerning the aurochs, and the title has a
crusading flavour about it.'

' 2%th. — With R. to the Royal Institution. We

= The Admiralty sent all the occasion hedemonstrated it to be

reports of ' Great Sea-serpents ' two whales, which under certain

which they received to Professor conditions might give the ap-

Owen for his opinion. On this pearance of a great sea-serpent.

1848-49 FARADAY TOO ILL TO LECTURE 337

got there just before three, and there was a crowded
audience, as usual, to hear Faraday's lecture. The
poor man entered and attempted to speak, but he
was suffering from inflammation or excessive
irritation of the larynx, and after some painful
efforts to speak, a general cry arose of " Postpone,"
and someone, apparently in authority, made a short
speech from the gallery. Mr. Faraday still wished
to try and force his voice, saying that he was well
aware of the difficulty of getting back the carriages,
&c., before the time for the lecture had elapsed,
to say nothing of the disappointment to some ; but
every moment the cry increased, " No, no ; you
are too valuable to be allowed to injure yourself.
Postpone, postpone." Poor Faraday was quite
overcome.'

In May 1849 Owen attended the Royal Aca-
demy dinner, of which, in writing to his sister Eliza,
he gives the following account, showing how
thoroughly he enjoyed any recreation, of what-
ever nature it might be : 'I got to Trafalgar
Square,' he writes, ' then penetrated the line of
police, received my catalogue, and was soon in
the midst of the artists, their guests, and their
beautiful works. Pushed on from one friendly
greeter to another till I got into the last great
i-oom, where the dinner is laid out, and Baily
the sculptor having pointed out my place, I
began to make the tour of the " Tableaux."
Whilst scrutinising Herbert's masterpiece from

VOL. I. z

338 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. x.

"King Lear ".was patted on the back by Lord
Carlisle, and after a little critical chat on one
of Turner's peculiarities, moved on. Looking
next at a group of fawns by Edwin Landseer,
someone pushed past my elbow, and who should
it be but the old Duke of Wellington : a stiff bow,
and on he marched, all military upright to the
shoulders, and then the reverend old head pokes
forward at an obtuse angle ; the large silver buckle
of the stiff white stock shining at the nape, above
the collar of the blue coat with its bright gold
buttons and shining star. The crimson sash
across the white waistcoat, black pantaloons and
shining boots. Looking better, I think, than last
year; and quite enjoying the pictures. After his
Grace had passed I followed quietly in his wake ;
but was soon arrested by the Duke of Northum-
berland, who had invited me a month or two ago
to the North, and repeated his hospitable wishes.
Some badinage about the sea-serpent (I shall
never hear the last of that), and then came tripping
along my Lord Brougham : a civil salute, but he
evidently forgot to whom. In three minutes,
however, he came back again, and plunged at once
into the mysteries of " Parthenogenesis," about
which the world is beginning to talk, as the subject
of my "Lectures" oozes out in conversation. Lord
Monteagle and then Lord Stanley, and then the
Chief Baron Pollock, and then little Lord John
[Russell], as sharp as a sparrow-hawk, and the

1848-49 JENNY LIND IN 'SONNAMBULA' 339

quieter old Lord Lansdowne, and our new Arch-
bishop, and soon after the Bishop of Oxford, who
was full of the lecture, &c., and so with the company
and the artists and the pictures. Sat down very
happily between old Turner and a Mr. Young,
with J. H. Green and Edwin Landseer opposite,
and old Pick. [Pickersgill] not far off, and a very
chatty, pleasant dinner, good speeches, and capital
singing by a small band of choice professionals,
after dinner. The Duke as characteristically sen-
tentious and stentorious as ever. Charley Stokes,
who was there, left early, and as he passed slipped
a ticket into my hand, saying, " Now if you want
to end with a thorough holiday you may wind
up with this." I glanced at the words Pit,
Opera, &c., and did not tarry long after. Old
Guizot and Lord Mahon left at the same time.
Walked into Fop's Alley, where I found two
acquaintances who made a good place for me, and
saw the house was regularly crammed. Her
Majesty and the Duchess of Kent occupying
opposite corners, or ends, of the Royal box ; a
chorus chanting on the stage. " What's going
on 1 " I asked. " Jenny Lind ! The last night of
' Sonnambula ! ' Don't you know ? " Soon did.
The last two scenes — and such scenes ! The Un-
surpassed surpassing herself. Her Majesty would
have the beautiful flower scene repeated, where
Jenny in her sleep brings the withered posy

which she has kept, a love relic, and fondles it.

z 2

340

PROFESSOR OWEN ch. x.

What outpouring of notes full of all the affection
and feeling conceivable ! Came away as soon as
the last shower of bouquets had fallen to tell all
the story to my dear little wife, who got the
conceit in her head that I must be about one of
the happiest men in the world ; and truly I must
own that yesterday was a day which is worth
living for. One enjoys a holiday or a pleasure-
making so thoroughly when it has been earned.'

On June 17, 1849, Owen writes to his sister
Eliza, from Worthing, about an excursion he made
to some chalk-pits near Arundel (Southeram),
together with J. E. Gray, F. Dixon, and Lord
Northampton, ' who is an ardent collector of flint
fossils.' He says : ' One of the pitmen remarked,
when his lordship had been hammering over one
heap through a long afternoon, " That man doan't
work for his living ; if he went on that gate he
could do nought next day. ..." The " Houghton "
pit is the oldest and largest of the escarpments ;
it forms a magnificent amphitheatre of soil, enclos-
ing a verdant, undulating area, along which the
river Arun meanders. A wonderful quantity of
the rarest British plants flourish in this retired,
out-of-the-world spot, from which a fine extent of
the chalk country is seen, chequered by shady
groves and sunny plains, with much of the demesne
of Arundel Castle included in the scene. Here
our rustic table was set out with four seats, and
here, after some hours' good work, we sat down

1848-49 DEATH OF MR. AND MRS. CLIFT 341

to cold boiled beef, cold fowl and tongue, salad,
lobsters, sherry and ginger beer, ... all more or
less like millers ; my lord the whitest, particularly
one side of his nose, being short-sighted. Dixon
occupied himself in penning a pretty little sonnet
to mark the occasion, of which J quote the last
few lines : —

But should some scientific mind behold
This ancient tomb of lizards, birds and fish.
Of shells, and smaller forms of every mould.
Their flinty shroud removed, will meet his wish.
These lines to mark a happy day are writ
With Owen, Gray, and keen Northampton's wit.'

From Worthing he went on to Lady Hastings',
at Lymington, and in a letter to his sister Kate
(June 19, 1849), he says of Lady Hastings' col-
lection : ' Rare and wonderful beasts, carnivorous
and herbivorous, are represented by the numerous
jaws and bones of all parts of the skeleton which
Lady H., by encouragement to the poor women
and children, has received from the old Eocene
beds about here.'

About a week after Owen's return to the
College of Surgeons a great grief befell him and
his wife — the death of both Mr. and Mrs. Clift.
Mrs. Clift, who had been ailing some time, first
passed away, and her death was quickly followed
by that of her husband. Owen had always the
strongest feelings of respect and affection for
William Clift, with whom so many events and

342 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. x.

reminiscences of his early life were intimately
associated, and we learn the sentiments with
which Owen regarded his father-in-law from the
interesting ' Obituary Memoir of William Clift '
which he shortly afterwards communicated to the
Royal Society.

In July, Owen received a letter on the subject
of the window tax from Travers Twiss, exhort-
ing him, in the following terms, to use his influence
towards its abolishment. ' It has always struck
me as rather a cruel provision to tax such
ventilators, even when it was not regarded as
prejudicial to health. But in the present day,
when the State does not hesitate to impose severe
duties on individuals as to drainage, ventilation,
&c., it seems inconsistent in its not recognising
the duty of the State to throw no impediment by
its own fiscal regulations in the way of one of the
most important branches of domestic ventilation.
Can you bring the subject before the proper
authorities, or let me know how it should be done ?
It would be a politic as well as a proper measure,
and the gain is so paltry.'

On the 2 1 St of this month we have an account
of another visit of Prince C. L. Bonaparte to
Owen : —

' R. had gone off to the Gardens, and I was
sitting alone at home when I heard a familiar
voice asking questions of the servant at the gate.
Presently the door opened and the servant an-

1848-49 LUCIEN BONAPARTE COMES AGAIN 343

nounced Mr. Bonaparte ! I told him I was not
much surprised to see him, as I knew that he had
left Rome. He has shaved off his beard again.
He said that he would like to go after R. to the
Gardens, but that he would also like to take Willie
with him as a protection. In the evening he came
back with the others and stayed' to dinner. He
talked a good deal about science and also politics.
The toast was " Viva I'ltalia libra ! " at which he
was much pleased. After dinner he took up the
" Observer," not expecting to find correct news
in the paper ; but he said the accounts from Italy-
were almost the same as those which he had
himself received. He left rather early, as he
had only arrived in England at ten o'clock this
morning.'

A few days later Prince Charles Lucien came
again, saying that he was anxious to go to Madame
Tussaud's to see the wax figures of his relatives
there. ' It so happened,' Mrs. Owen writes,
' that a Westminster friend of Willie's was here
to lunch, and the Prince having come here early,
said that he would come with us and the two boys.
When at the exhibition we had the rare oppor-
tunity of comparing the models of the Napoleon
and of Lucien with the son and nephew. The
Prince looks very Napoleonic at times, especially
when he frowns, as he did when puzzling over the
catalogue. He hunted out the likeness of his
cousin (Louis), but on seeing how very bad it

344 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. x.

was, scarcely bestowed a second glance at it. R.
mentioned that he had seen Louis Napoleon for
more than an hour in the museum a few years
ago, and that the model hardly recalled his like-
ness. But the Prince was much struck with the
likeness of his father, and also that of Madame
Mere, his grandmother. We saw, amongst other
relics of Bonaparte, one of the set of gold knives,
of which my father had two, and which we
have now. I showed them to the Prince at
dessert, and he recognised them by their make as
soon as he saw them. When in the rooms where
the Napoleon family models were, I noticed people
looking at the Prince with great curiosity and
interest. He was exceedingly kind to the two
boys, and laughed and joked with them, especially
about the Chamber of Horrors, pretending to be
dreadfully afraid of it. I noticed a trait of cha-
racter this evening which amused us very much.
Mr. Samuel Warren (author of " Ten Thousand
a Year ") was here, and after dinner the Prince was
playing on the piano some rather lively marches
and tarantellas, when Mr. W., evidently rather
flushed with the excitement of meeting the dis-
tinguished guest, said as he lolled back luxuriously
in an arm-chair, " Why don't you play us some-
thing more melancholy. Prince ? I want something
melancholy." Prince Charles Lucien, seeming to
take no notice of the request (Mr. W. until this
evening was a total stranger to him), went on

184.8-49 BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT SALISBURY 345

playing with a bland smile on his face, but the
most dreadful compound of discords and noise.
R. had gone upstairs for a few minutes, but
hearing this strange thumping came down again
to see what it was. I explained the situation to
him in a whisper, and he soon grasped it. Mr.
W. finally retired in discomfiture, and left the
Prince still beaming with the most perfect good-
humour.'

In August, Owen received an amusing letter
from Sir Philip Egerton, descriptive of the
meeting of the British Association at Salisbury,
which he was unable to attend. It was chiefly
composed of archaeologists, whose efforts were
crowned with a success resembling in a strik-
ing way the famous discovery made by Mr.
Pickwick of the stone bearing the inscription, ' Bill
Stumps his mark.' Sir Philip, after saying how-
much he had been bored by the whole business,
continued : —

'. . . I felt more at home standing on Inigo
Jones's palladian bridge and watching a fat old
newt's habit of life in the stream below, than in
listening to the Dean of Hereford's account of his
diggings in the barrows. I had a sample of this
•sport quite worthy of " Punch ; " for on our way to
Stonehenge we had a grand digging (only to be
equalled by the Californian gold-diggers, to judge
by the anxious faces and lively scrambles of the
expectant archaeologists), and at length found —

346

PROFESSOR OWEN

CH. X.

what do you suppose ? — a mysterious bit of sheet-
lead, of which I send you a rough sketch.

OPEN

ED

IN

1804

BY

R. C.

H.

' Buckland was very great at Stonehenge, and
narrowly escaped having to fight a duel with the
son of a Mr. Somebody, who, the Dean said, had
written a book to prove that the architect of the
mysterious ruin was Cain, and had dedicated
the book to him to buy his acquiescence in the
theory. ... I both amused and edified myself
during the locomotive parts of my trip with
studying " Parthenogenesis " and the " Nature of
Limbs." I recommended the perusal of them to
old Sedgwick.'

In September, Owen suffered another loss in
the death of his old friend Frederick Dixon, of
Worthing, at whose house he had spent so many
happy days. Owen was with him at the time.
The value which he set on Dixon's friendship is
evident from a letter to his wife, in which he says :
' There was a genuine goodness in poor Dixon that
makes me feel bereaved of a true friend, and in
many difficulties, though small perhaps, always the
best adviser about College and other such matters,

1848-49 A DEAD RHINOCEROS 347

in which I could fully confide in his true heart and
judgment. Peace be with him ! Few men have
better earned it.'

In November the rhinoceros at the Zoological
Gardens died, and, ' as a natural consequence,'
Mrs. Owen writes, ' there is a quantity of rhino-
ceros (defunct) on the premises.' Owen mentions
this rhinoceros in a letter to one of his sisters : —

' Amongst other matters time-devouring, and
putting out of memory mundane relations, sisters
included, has been the decease of my ponderous
and respectable old friend and client the rhino-
ceros. I call him " client" because fifteen years ago
I patronised him, and took it upon my skill, in dis-
cerning through a pretty thick hide the internal
constitution, to aver that the beast would live to
be a credit to the Zoological Gardens, and that
he was worth the r,ooo guineas demanded for
him. The Council had faith, and bought him, and
he has eaten their hay, oats, rice, carrots, and bread
in Brobdignagian daily quantities ever since, and
might have gone on digesting had he not, by some
clumsy fall or otherwise inexplicable process,
cracked a rib ; said fracture injuring the adjacent
lung and causing his demise. His anatomy will
furnish forth an immortal " Monograph," and so
comfort comes to me in a shape in which it can-
not be had by any of my brother Fellows of the
Zoological order. . . . Yesterday I went to the
Athenaeum, and finished the second volume of

348 PROFESSOR OWEN CH^ x.

"Shirley." I suppose your good and kind host,
to whom give my best remembrances, has read
that Yorkshire novel of Currer Bell's lang syne. I
like it. I am also reading again Lockhart's " Life
of Scott," which I have bought. Let me recom-
mend to you both Hugh Miller's " Footprints of
the Creator," i2mo — a book to be bought, not
borrowed.'

A constant guest at .Sir Robert Peel's dinners,
Owen often refers to them in his letters, and in
one of these to his sister Eliza (November 28,
1849), he mentions among others, ' Sir William
Hooker (with very interesting news of his son, who
has climbed to the plateau of Thibet, where he
has a chance of catching the " unicorn" — besides
a fever), and two or three curates in white neck-
cloths (they are always represented at Sir Robert's
hospitable table), very like those described in
" Shirley." . . . To-day Mr. Home, the poet,
author of " Orion," dines with us, to receive a
criticism on a pretty little Xmas book of which
he has submitted the proof sheets to me. It is
to be called the " Poor Artist," and I can recom-
mend it for a pleasant evening's light reading.'

On November 27 Owen was appointed mem-
ber of the Royal Commission on Smithfield
Market and the Meat Supply of London. ' The
first I heard of it was from the notice in the
" Times," ' Mrs. Owen writes, ' for R. has not
mentioned to anyone that he was to be on the new
Commission.' 'This Commission,' according to

1848-49 COMMISSION ON SMITHFIELD MARKET 349

the 'Times' of Tuesday, November 27, 1849, 'has
been appointed to inquire into the live and dead
meat markets of London, and consists of seven
members.' Owen attended the first meeting at
the Home Office, on December 5, and shortly
afterwards an entry in the diary records of the
second meeting that it was of a itiost satisfactory
character, owing to some conclusive and sensible
evidence given by a noted West-end butcher :
' This gentleman came prepared with a plan of
improvements in slaughter-houses, &c., which was
much the same as the committee were strug-
gling to bring about. Richard asked him (his
name, I think, was rather appropriate — Giblet)
if he was aware that his really excellent plan, which
Mr. Giblet was afraid might prove too Utopian to
be acted upon, existed and was maintained in most
Continental towns. R. made a great point of this,
so that the Lord Mayor, who was present, could
not plead ignorance of such a fact. There will be
a great deal of difficulty in altering the present
state of things in London — chiefly in respect to
the great sums of money required — but it must
come sooner or later.'

' December 4. — Milne-Edwards and Dumas
fils here this evening. Young Dumas has a very
worn, old look, though he cannot be more than
twenty-five. He says he understands English,
but does not speak it.'

' (jth. — We hear that there is a hippopotamus
waiting for the Gardens at Cairo. It must be an

3SO PROFESSOR OWEN CH. X.

enormous expense, but it is worth it. Our consul
at Cairo is taking care of it, and it is being nursed
there, consuming I am afraid to say how many-
pints of milk per day. It is intelligent and a great
favourite, and has red spots on its skin after
bathing [" due to extravasated blood," Professor
Owen notes].'

' 3 li-/. — Boys' party here, for the last day of the
old year. They had a toy theatre, and performed
" Der Freischiitz," to the accompaniment of blue
and red fire, &c. In spite of long waits, and
some arguments {ad hominem) behind the scenes,
R. sat it all out with the greatest patience.'

On this day Owen wrote a letter to his sister
Eliza, giving a short summary of his work during
the past year : ' I have safely received the promised
present of wax models [of the anatomy of the
torpedo] from the Grand Duke of Tuscany, sent
in a right Royal fashion. They are very beautiful,
and of at least 300/. value ; I have presented them
to the College. 1849 has been productive of
" Parthenogenesis," the " Nature of Limbs," and
the beginning of my big book on " British Fossil
Reptiles," a new course of lectures, and the com-
pletion of the " Catalogue of Osteology ; " besides
some minor matters on chimpanzee, chelonian,
carapace, &c. Smithfield runs away with some
time ; but that will conclude, I think, my sanitary
labours. The good work is in train, and cannot
now be stopped.'

i8so-5i THE MEGATHERIUM

351

CHAPTER XI

1850-51

The Megatherium — Preparations for the Great Exhibition of
185 1 — The Smithfield Commission — Additions to the Zoological
Gardens — Juror of awards at the Exhibition — Visit to Paris at
the Invitation of the President of the French Republic — Article
on Lyell's Works in the Quarterly Review, October 1851 — The
Copley Gold Medal — ' Chevalier de I'Ordre Royal pour le
Merite' — Sheen Lodge, 1851.

In 1850 Woodbine Parish sent home from Buenos
Ayres the remains of a gigantic extinct mammal,
more nearly allied to the ant-eaters and sloths
than to the armadillos. The Megatherium, as it
has been named, had already been described by
Cuvier and Mr. Clift ; but this new specimen
afforded Owen the opportunity of writing his
famous paper on the subject which appeared in
the ' Philosophical Transactions.'

Early in the year Dr. Gideon Mantell wrote
to him cautioning him against overtaxing his
mental powers. In this letter Dr. Mantell says:
' 1 once possessed as much mental energy as most
men, but by overwork I now feel fit for nothing.

352 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. xi.

Be warned by my example. I hope in April to
send you two little volumes, the compiling of
which has served to beguile many a weary hour,
for after the professional exertions which I am
obliged to make for my daily bread I suffer
greatly, and should have been dead from ennui
ere this, had I not such resources. Miss Marti-
neau has published "Life in the Sick Room:"
mine will be " Life on the Sick Couch ; " and I think
the notes of the naturalist will be more cheering
than those of the political economist. . . .'

Owen did not disregard Mantell's advice, and
in a letter to his sister dated February 4, after
remarking that he has been taking things rather
easier, he says : ' As dining out keeps me from
working in the evening and saves my eyes, I have
been indulging in accepting lately many invita-
tions ; but henceforth intend to decline until my
lectures are over. . „ . . Saturday morning I went
to breakfast at Hallam's, and had a great intellec-
tual treat — Macaulay the historian, Milman the
poet, Gutzlaff the Chinese traveller. Major
Rawlinson the Babylonian traveller, who has got
the clue to the cuneiform inscriptions on the
Nineveh sculptures, Lord Monteagle, &c. Thence
I went to see the poor Dean of Westminster,
whose health, I fear, is breaking.

' Willie is going on very satisfactorily at West-
minster, but he is in a class of very sharp and
hard-working, or, as he calls it, muzzing boys, so

i8so-5i SIMS REEVES

353

I don't at all set my mind on his winning his
election next year.'

Describing a concert at Exeter Hall, he
writes : ' We had front seats, and therefore I
had a good opportunity of observing Ernst and
Thalberg, who were both playing. Ernst is
more like a vampire than a man, awful to look
at ; Thalberg as great a contrast to him as one
can conceive, his whole being redolent of meat,
pudding, and creature comforts. Both perfectly
calm and imperturbable, but the one is the placi-
dity of a dumpling, the other that of a corpse.
Miss Dolby sang, but there was a new star too —
Mr. Sims Reeves. He has a truly fine voice, and
knows how to manage it. He sang " My Pretty
Jane," but I personally prefer to hear it as it was
written, and in its original simplicity. Also he
sang the words " Meet me in the gloaming " —
" Meet me in the evening," a small thing, but he
might as well have used the right word.'

One of the memorable events of the year 1850
was the inception of the scheme for the Great
Exhibition of 1851, in which Prince Albert took,
as is well known, a most active part. The first
meeting of the Committee — which included Lord
Granville, Lord Stanley, Owen, Lyell, De la
Beche, and others among its members — was held
at Buckingham Palace on February 13.

Mrs. Owen writes in her diary : —

'February 14. — At past 2 o'clock a message

VOL. I. A A

354 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. xi.

came to R. from Prince Albert, asking him to
prepare a list or classification of animal structures
for the Exhibition, to be ready for the Committee
at 3 o'clock. So, as R. had come in after the
message, he had to work against time and set off
to the Palace without any lunch. R. gave us an
amusing account of the proceedings of the Com-
mittee at Buckingham Palace. There was of course
much good work done, and many clever suggestions
made. . . . The Prince had plenty to do in the
business which fell to his share as chairman.
They assembled at 3 o'clock, and not till a
quarter to 8 did they break up, when a message
was somehow conveyed to H.R.H that it was
time for him to dress for dinner. On the whole,
R. was much pleased with the day's work.'

Owen was placed on the committee of the
comprehensive section ' Raw Materials and Pro-
duce of the Animal Kingdom.' The list of
substances in itself occupies many pages, and
they were also divided into their uses — food,
medicine, chemistry, clothing, building, and manu-
facture.

As to the food, Owen remarks that it is im-
possible to give an exact list, for ' almost every
part of almost every species of animal serves as
food to some variety or other of the human race.'
The list of food was indeed a varied one, rang-
ing from condensed milk to edible birds' nests ;
and the manufacturing and domestic uses of the

1850-S1 COURT DRESS

355

products of the animal kingdom seem to have
included anything from tallow candles and gelatine
to tortoise-shell and pearls.

In March, Owen attended his first Levee, where
he was presented to the Prince Consort by the
Earl of Carlisle. From a long account of the
ceremony given in a letter to his sister Maria we
make the following extract : —

' Finding, after my invitation to the Prince's
Council at Buckingham Palace, that I could no
longer postpone paying my humble duty in form,
I sent for a Court tailor, and Carry and I devised
a very handsome and elegant attire, I think quite
as good as any Court dress I saw. A rich sort
of dahlia-brown cloth, with bright steel buttons,
buckles, sword, &c., and a white satin waistcoat
with rich flowers embroidered. Lace cravat full
and long, and the same for the cuffs. Cut-steel
loop in the cocked-hat. All very fine,' as Pepys
would say, ' and gave great satisfaction to Carry
and Catherine when finally fitted on this morning.'

Besides attending the Committee meetings of
the Great Exhibition, he sat on the Smithfield
Commission on the Meat Supply of London at
frequent intervals. An entry in the diary (Feb-
ruary 19), states that a City deputation attended
the meeting on that day ' with a ridiculous plan of
patching up the market, instead of doing away
with it, and also of adding slaughter-houses.
The minds of those whose firmness was of such

A A 2

356 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. xi.

vital importance were visibly staggered by this
plausible attempt to make a show of doing some-
thing and of making improvements, when the
only right course is to improve the whole thing
away. R. sat there boiling with indignation, till
his turn came to give his opinion, and then he
gave forth his protest against this new proposal
in unmistakable language. This set the Commis-
sioners wavering back again. He left them un-
decided.'

'March 5. — This time R. returned from the
Smithfield Commission with the hope that things
were going right at last. It is evident that his
last speech has produced a stronger reaction than
he expected. It seems an obvious piece of stu-
pidity to meet a reform by a proposal to perpetuate
and increase the nuisance at an enormous outlay
of money.'

Owen's course of Hunterian Lectures this year
was ' On the Generation and Development of
Vertebrate Animals, with Prefatory Remarks on
Vertebra.' He notes in his diary that Hallam
was a constant attendant at these lectures, and he
also adds : ' I could give the Bishop of Oxford a
certificate for most regular attendance.'

Owen's recreations during this course of
lectures were visits to the theatre and the Zoo-
logical Gardens. He went twice to see Parodi
as Medea, and notes a piece of by-play which
was not much to that lady's credit. ' In the bridal

iSso-si THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 357

scene, I just happened to see Parodi, before
throwing down the altar, give one of the un-
fortunate chorus-girls a sly kick and a vicious
pinch. It seems the poor " chorus " was in her
way. Parodi and Sims Reeves played together.
The latter 's fine voice was overstrained to make it
go with hers.'

In March the Zoological Society had a young
hippopotamus ' on sale or return.' ' At the Gardens
to-day,' Mrs. Owen writes, 'there was an amusing
scene with the young hippopotamus now there on
approval, price only 350/.! It was let out of its
house for us to see, and when once out was so
much pleased with its liberty and the great tank
of water, that it declined to go back. Good-
natured Hunt tried to tempt it with all sorts of
enticing bits, but we left him still unsuccessful.
The creature was just like a spoilt child, and
showed a spirit of obstinacy very pig-like '

' April 1 2. — R. to take the chair at the Royal
Society, and underwent the penance (to him) of
" rain admeasurements falling in India." As soon
as that was over he hurried off to Mr. Mitchell,
who wanted his opinion with regard to a rhino-
ceros which is also for sale. Demurs of the Council
because of the expense of the hippopotamus.'

This hippopotamus was ultimately purchased
by the Zoological Society, and proved a great
attraction, as may be seen from the following
entry : ' Went to look at the new hippopotamus.

358 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. XI.

There was an immense crowd of visitors to the
Gardens. R. and I got through the crowd to the
giraffe paddock, in the hope of getting some
friends into the house, but soon found it out of
the question. There was a dense mass of people
waiting their turn to get inside the house, and
the whole road leading to that part of the Gardens
was full of a continuous stream of people. Mr.
Mitchell said that there were more than 6,000 last
Saturday, and that there were about 10,000 to-
day.'

The Hunterian Lectures of the season were
finished by May 4. On that day Owen went
to the Royal Academy dinner. ' Sir Robert Peel
was there, and also Thackeray, who sent to me
across the table to take a glass of wine.'

A remarkable collection of antique watches,
containing, amongst others, one which the owner
stated to have belonged to Milton, was exhibited
this year. Owen went to see them, and his wife
records that on his way back ' R. said that he felt
convinced the watch could never have belonged
to Milton, because of the bad Latin of the inscrip-
tion on its face, which Milton was supposed to
have written himself. R. did not tell this to the
owner of the watch. It was, in fact, impossible for
him to do so, as the worthy gentleman himself
was quite unconscious of the mistake.'

Owen's holiday this year was spent chiefly in
Edinburgh. He occupied the whole of August

i8so-si NEW POLAR BEAR

359

and part of September in taking a thorough
rest.

Just before starting for Scotland (July 24),
'the skeleton of the great chimpanzee arrived,
sent by Captain Harris. It is the first full-grown
skeleton ever brought to England. I am thank-
ful it did arrive before we started, for otherwise
R. would have inevitably turned back to open
the box.'

After visiting Edinburgh, Lancaster, Derby,
and other places, they returned home on Sep-
tember 19. On the following day ' there arrived
a precious volume for R.'s inspection — the ori-
ginal MS. of "Waverley," mislaid so long by
Sir Walter Scott. There was a letter from
Lockhart with it to vouch for its authenticity.
R. was luckily able to spend some time over it
before it had to be sent to the iVdvocates' Library
in Edinburgh.'

On September 28 an amusing caricature ap-
peared in ' Punch ' — a night at the Royal Insti-
tution, Owen lecturing. ' The diagrams very
well done,' he remarks, ' and the picture is really
very clever.'

This month a new polar bear was added to
the Zoological Gardens. ' R. went at 2 o'clock to
the Gardens, just in time to see the new polar bear
turned out of his barrel (he was brought over in
a barrel and had been cooped up for weeks) into
the residence of the female polar bear. She

36o PROFESSOR OWEN CH. xi.

greeted the new arrival with loud growls, and
seemed shocked at his being turned into her
grounds so unceremoniously. She did not hold
her paw before her face, it is true, but she clawed
a good mass of fur out of his side and then
retreated to her corner in the house, making short
runs at him occasionally. The newly arrived
bear was so glad to be able to stretch his legs',
after having been cramped up so long, that he
cared little for these exhibitions of feminine
delicacy, but lost no time in plunging into the
pond, which operation he repeated again and
again.' A later visit to the bears is thus noted:
' We found the happy couple in a rather unplea-
sant domestic state. The lady backed into a
corner, with her nose lowered on to her paws,
growling very spitefully and looking daggers or
rather " saws " at her mate. He was sitting
within a foot or two of her, with a most gentle-
manly, patient air, almost amiable. He is a fine
animal, of a yellowish colour. She is quite
white.'

' October 24. — Note from Mr. Gould to ask us
to step round and see the skin of a notornis which
has been sent him. R. dined with Mr. Lovell
Reeve, and came home much pleased with his'
entertainment. Cruikshank was there, and sang
" Lord Bateman" whom he illustrated so cleverly
in the " Ballad." '

' November 1 5. — R. started off about nine to

I8SO-5I HOW GREAT MEN COMPOSE 361

take Mr. Pickersgill to the Gardens. This was his
first visit there. 'His art,' he said, ' had never given
him time before.' This morning Mr. William
Cooper performed the operation for cataract on a
young grizzly bear. He performed this operation
once before on a young bear, who quite recovered.
Several zoologists to witness it.'

'December 16. — Author of " Orion," Mr.
Home, here. He told me he did not write the
"Raven" papers in "Household Words." They
are Dickens's own. Mr. H. wrote the " Zoological
Meeting." He said Dickens's papers were some-
times mistaken for his, and vice versa.'

'December 20. — R. gone to T. Carlyle's, whom
we had asked to come to dinner. T. C. had
written to say he was too dyspeptic to venture out
at present, and begged R. to go over there. They
have been corresponding this week.'

At a meeting of the Literary Club this month,
Owen met Southey and Smirke, R.A., among
others, and gives in a letter to his sisters an ac-
count of the conversation, which turned on the
circumstances in which men compose and write.
' The Bishop [of Lichfield] said he always found
it easiest whilst walking about in the open air, and
that he used to do his verses at Eton always in
" Poets' Walk," and write them down when he re-
turned. Mr. Walpole said that that was the way in
which Macaulay composed, and that he had met
him after midnight going through Temple Bar ;

362 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. XI.

he (Macaulay) having set off from the West End
to walk to the Tower and back, saying he found
the air most pure and the interruptions fewest at
that time, and that he had composed the whole
of his pages on Judge Jeffreys' downfall during a
walk of that kind.'

The letter concludes with a reference to the
Great Exhibition, and the building, which was fast
approaching completion. ' The Crystal Palace is
the most wonderful piece of work the world has
ever seen erected in so short a space of time.
Whatever be the result of the " Exhibition," one
thing is certain — the building must impress every
foreigner with a strong sense of English inventive
power and perseverance.'

In January 1851 Owen had several meetings
with Thomas Carlyle, who was anxious to obtain
materials for his life of John Sterling. In writing
to Owen about this date, Carlyle says : —

' Can you not advise Professor Airy, or some
real mathematician and geometer, to undertake
that business of Foucault's pendulum, and (throwing
Euler and his Algebra overboard) illuminate it
for the geometrical mind ? It seems to me the
prettiest experiment made in this century, though
perhaps good for nothing otherwise. I have had
a great wrestling with it occasionally in my own
poor head (which used to know some mathematics
twenty years ago), and a deadly suspicion haunts

i8so-5i PUBLIC EXECUTIONS 363

me, the fact itself being certain as fate, that nobody
has yet in the least explained what the real cause
and conditions of it are.'

'January 30. — Charles Dickens and Mr. For-
ster, of the " Examiner," here. Dickens brought
with him a curious letter, of the authenticity
of which there can be no doubt, written by the
wretched woman Maria Manning at the hour of
her execution. It is addressed to a relative of
hers, and in the most solemn terms avows her
innocence. This relative received it with the
notice that Maria Manning had undergone her
sentence of death before it was posted. The
person to whom the letter was sent had seen from
the papers that Dickens attended the execution,
and so concluded that he was impressed with the
idea that Manning was not guilty, and sent him
her letter as a confirmation, whereas Dickens was
merely agitating against executions being made
public. This letter was the outcome of the
woman's prevailing feeling strong in death — to
pose, and to show up well.'

Dickens afterwards wrote to Owen about
an article which was to appear in ' Household
Words ' on the subject of public executions.

Later on in this year Owen's opinion was asked
in the case of a woman, named Maria Clark, who
was under sentence of death for child murder.
The then Home Secretary wrote to ask what

364 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. XI.

Owen thought ' of the state of her brain and mind
under the miserable circumstances in which she
buried her infant ahve.'

The diary has this entry on the subject : ' R.
wrote to Sir George Grey stating his opinion that
the poor creature was certainly not in her right
senses, from pain, and exposure to bad weather for
twenty hours, and that she was therefore not to
be considered as a wilful criminal. It was a very
strong letter. The next day R. went to the Home
Office, where he was told that his letter had created
a strong feeling in the mind of Sir George Grey,
who had come to the office at 1 1 o'clock at night
after receiving the letter, and had routed them
up in order to get a reprieve prepared and sent
off at once.'

Amongst other evils which Owen was anxious
to abolish was the window tax, which had not yet
been repealed. It was anticipated that considerable
difficulty would be felt in obtaining conclusive
evidence that light and air were essential to health,
as the following letter from Mr. Edwin Chadwick
will show : —

Edwin Chadwick to R. Owen

' Dear Owen, — It is expected that there will be
a sharp fight to retain the window tax, and I am
asked by the Chancellor of the Exchequer for
physiological or medical dicta as to the effects of
the exclusion of light upon the health of the

1850-51 THE WINDOW TAX 365

population. Our evidence, I find, is really very
meagre, either as to the influence of light per se, or
of light as an agent of ventilation, upon the health
or disease of the population. . . . Could you, if
you have either observed or thought upon the
subject physiologically or medically, give me a few-
quotable sentences or dicta which I might send
to him upon the subject ? Very short.

' Yours ever,

' E. Chadwick.'

Owen in reply sent some remarks, which
would now be considered perfectly obvious, as to
the necessity of windows for proper ventilation
and light. It is astonishing to think that these
matters once occasioned so much opposition and
debate.

At this time there were several meetings of the
Committee for the ' Great Exhibition of the Works
of Industry of all Nations,' which was to be opened
on May i, and these, with the Hunterian Lectures,
kept Owen fully occupied. On April 27 he
was informed of his appointment as ' Chairman
of Jury IV.' of the Exhibition. On May i the
opening day is thus described in the diary : ' We
got up at half-past five, having ordered a coach at
a quarter to seven, which was half an hour late .
We drove to the upper end of Piccadilly, where
we formed in line with an enormous string of
carriages. Many carriages dashed past our

366 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. xi.

patient line, to be turned back and take their
places behind. At last we reached the crowded
doors. R., as a juror, took his sister with him in
search of the jurors' gallery, for which he had a
pass — for one lady. Catherine [another sister]
and I hurried past long lines of seats all full, and
succeeded in getting an excellent place in the
central part — front seats. Impossible to give any-
thing like a clear or regular description of the day.
The Sappers and Miners took their posts at inter-
vals along the line. After some distant shouts the
trumpets proclaimed the arrival of the Queen and
Prince Albert. Never was a sovereign or royal
pair more heartily welcomed. The Queen led the
Prince of Wales with her right hand, and her left
hand was linked in Prince Albert's arm, who was
leading the Princess Royal. Then followed a
procession of ladies, and I caught a glimpse of
beautiful dresses and diamonds and — red noses, for
the day, though fine, was cold. Then two old
officers holding on by each other, one lame, the
other infirm — Wellington and Anglesey. The
Duke was 82 to-day.'

The work devolving upon the jurors proved
to be much more heavy and intricate than had
been anticipated, and entailed considerable corre-
spondence on individual jurors.

A letter is preserved, addressed to Owen,
stating that Messrs. So-and-so have 'had the mean-
ness to put their cards on ottr articles,' and would

i8so-5i THE 'LOR' MAIRE' 367

Professor Owen have the goodness to ' see about
it at once.' But there are also many letters from
foreigners, which are models of politeness and
diction, especially when their goods received an
award.

The President of the French Republic having
invited the jurors of the Great Exhibition to
Paris, Owen started the last day of July, along
with Dr. Lyon Playfair, Joseph Paxton, Lord
Wharncliffe, the Lord Mayor of London, and
others. Owen wrote some amusing letters during
his stay at Paris. At Boulogne the party was
received by the Prefect and a band, which played
' God save the Queen.' At the railway station a
cold collation had been provided and speeches
were made, and champagne revived the flagging
energies of those who felt indisposed after the sea
voyage. When the train-bell rang it was dis-
covered that the doors of the room in which they
had been lunching were locked, and there were
no officials at hand to open them. Some of the
more daring escaped by the window until a young
soldier came and guarded that exit with fixed
bayonet. The doors, however, were soon opened,
the confusion having occurred simply from a re-
gard for the safety of the English ' Lor' Maire,' and
the travellers steamed off to Amiens. A similar
reception awaited the representatives there, and
they were formed into a procession and marched
along to another collation, with more speeches

368 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. xi.

and merriment. Owen relates that he translated
the Lord Mayor's speech, which was delivered in
English, to a young French lieutenant, who retailed
it to his friends, and they to the people, ' who' re-
peated the sentences and screamed with delight.'
' To find a worthy old alderman made a demigod
for the nonce was very rich ; but the furore and
crowding to see the plain gray-haired old gentle-
man has gone on increasing, and, say what they
will of our crowding to see our Queen, it is nothing
to compare with the clustering of all Paris about
the Lord Mayor as he walked from fountain to
fountain through Versailles yesterday ; Hussars
and Dragoons dismounted, with all their French
official energy, hardly able to keep away from the
honest man we once so dreadfully bullied about
Smithfield at our " Commission." '

On reaching Paris, the luggage was found to
have been left behind ; it gradually arrived in
course of the next two days, but one member
could not attend the Prefect of the Seine's
banquet in consequence, and Lord Ebrington
had to buy a new suit of clothes in order to be
present.

Owen stayed at the Hotel Brighton, and by
some means or other his ticket for the fite at
St. Cloud given by the President of the Republic
to the Commissioners did not arrive, and he was
refused admittance. So he and C. T. Newton,
who was in the same predicament, climbed up a

iSso-Si _ AT PARIS 369

wall, and, resting under the shade of a tree, watched
the privileged crowd from a distance, and return-
ing to Paris solaced themselves with a dinner at
the ' Palais National ' and ' Le Prophete ' at the
Opera, and before going to bed relieved both
their minds by inditing somewhat strong letters
about their tickets to the Prefect.

Next morning Owen went, with some of the
other jurymen, to a charcoal manufactory to in-
spect the furnaces, and gave the men a sovereign
to drink the success of their master, who had won
a medal at the Exhibition. Returning to Paris, he
went to the Jardin des Plantes, ' and gave a long
lecture to a large party, all full of indignation at
their treatment at St. Cloud.' This indignation,
Owen tells us, arose in the following manner :
' Ddjeuner was served in the Orangerie. The
moment the doors were opened the military rushed
in and occupied all the seats, drank all the cham-
pagne and ate all the fowls, and left the ladies
dying with thirst and hunger outside.'

On another day he saw a review in the Champ
de Mars, for which he was accommodated with a
place in the President's ' tribune,' and about this
review he sent a twelve-page letter to his son.

As chairman of the jury on ' The Raw Materials
and Produce of the Animal Kingdom,' he ulti-
mately published an elaborate report of their
awards, and, after his work as juror was completed,
delivered an address, at the request of Prince

VOL. I. B B

37° PROFESSOR OWEN ch. xi.

Albert, at the Royal Society of Arts, on ' Raw
Animal Products and their Uses in Manufac-
ture.' This lecture was published by the Society
in their volume of lectures on the various classes
of exhibits.

Mr. Scott Russell, after the address, made a
speech, in which he mentioned all that Owen had
done towards the perfection of the collection of
raw materials in the Great Exhibition, especially
how he arranged and compiled the lists and had
them circulated in foreign countries.

In July, at the meeting of the British Associa-
tion at Ipswich, Owen delivered an address in the
Corn Market on ' The Distinction between Plants
and Animals.' This lecture was of a popular
character, and soon after its delivery Sir Charles
Lyell wrote the following letter to Owen, dated
from Werstead Vicarage : —

Sir C. Lyell to R. Owen

' My host, the Rev. Barham Zincke, is in such
a state of enthusiasm about your lecture, which he
says he would not have missed for loo/., that I
must tell you before leaving for town that it
struck me as the most successful effort I have yet
heard you make in popularising a very abstruse
subject, and so constantly keeping the grand
general views in sight that none of the details
were tedious to anyone. I have sometimes as-
certained that at the Royal Institution you have

1850-51 HIS ELOCUTION 371

gone into details of which the many could not
sufficiently see the bearing, and at other times you
have been too technical. Everyone last night
felt that such was not the case, and when I re-
marked to Colonel Reid that no one of the ladies
could ever have been even alarmed when you
were propounding so many novel theories of re-
production, he said : "The delicacy with which he
treated those subjects was as remarkable as any
other excellence in the whole discourse." I was
afraid, as your voice was just at the proper pitch
for me who sat near, that the distant auditors must
have lost some, but Dr. Roget, who was much
farther off, told me that you were " distinct and
space-penetrating ; " and Sir C. Fellowes said he
watched the remoter parts of the room and ob-
served that they were never talking — a clear proof
that they heard.

' Lady Cullum brought me home last night,
and when she was expressing her delight at the
lecture I told her how glad I was I had not dined
at Shrublands, and that I had fairly said to Sir
W. Middleton that I could not give up Owen's
lecture for his dinner, and that Airy had done the
same. She observed : " I wish more independence
of this kind had been shown by scientific men."
What good can you do if our country gentlemen
here can derange all the week your most impor-
tant proceedings. . . . ?'

At Lockhart's request Owen wrote the review

372 PROFESSOR! OWEN CH. xi.

of some of Lyell's works and of his ' Anniversary
Address ' in'the ' Quarterly Review.'

J. S. Lockhart to R. Owen

July 23, 1851.

' Dear Owen, — Many thanks for your frank,
manly sentences, on which I have acted. This
being my last day here for a time, I have written
about twenty-five epistles, all in various ways
evading the plain sense of " Sir, you are an ass,"
but all reaching the same practical object — viz.
To your thistles !

' As I shalFbe on the Continent for a few weeks,
please send your paper to Murray, who will take
care that all attention is paid to it. Or, if you
please, send MS. at once to Clowes with the an-
nexed note. I shall be greatly bothered if I don't
find all articles ship-shape on my return. That will
not be later than the last of August, and the
number must be published by the ist October.
Verb. sap. ! ' Ever yours,

' J. S. Lockhart.'

Lyell was evidently pleased with Owen's
review and estimate of his works, as the following
letter will show, although Owen differed from him
in some minor matters : —

' I have just read in the new number of the
" Quarterly Review " your article on my Anniver-

1850-51 THE 'QUARTERLY'

373

sary Address, for I presume you will allow me to
infer from internal evidence that it is yours, and
I thank you sincerely for the very handsome and
cordial manner in which you have spoken of my
two works, the " Principles" and " Elementary ''
(or Manual), and the able analysis which you have
given of their contents.

' Such praise will tell the more in their favour
when seen to come from a critic, who is clearly
no flatterer of the writer, but one who is as com-
petent as he is determined to exercise an indepen-
dent judgment on his writings and opinions. ..."
[Lyell then devotes the remaining nine quarto
pages of this letter to a defence of his views, and
concludes :] ' I shall only add that I rejoice to see
this subject freely discussed, and forty pages of the
" Quarterly" filled with original and most valuable
lessons in palaeontology. By your liberal praise of
my two treatises you will hasten the time when I
shall be called upon to reprint them. When I do so
I shall try and weigh your arguments impartially
and dispassionately.'

In the November of this year Owen wrote
another article for the same Review, containing a
list of his chief books and papers, and a short sum-
mary of the more important. ' It had been pro-
posed,' Owen writes, ' for Broderip to do it, but I
found it would be easier and perhaps clearer if I
did it myself The list astonishes me ! I wonder
how Lockhart will manage, for it is already con-

374 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. XI.

densed to the utmost, and it looks enough for two
long articles in the " Quarterly." '

Lockhart had considerable correspondence
with Owen about this time, and in the course of
an amusing letter he mentions a curious fact re-
lated in the 'Life of Southey : ' 'In the' last
chapters of Southey's Life,' writes Lockhart, ' his
son says that after his father's mind failed, his hair,
previously almost snow-white, thickened, curled,
and became perceptibly darker. Now, tell me
if you recollect any other instance of this counter-
part to the not uncommon bleaching of the hair
under mental distress. For, if the rule be a
sound one, a little real affliction or idiotism
might be suggested to widows of Mayfair in lieu
of the Chinese infallible hair-dye warranted of no
purple tinge.'

There was some question this year of Owen
succeeding to the post of Keeper of the Mine-
ralogical Department of the British Museum, ren-
dered vacant by the sudden death of Charles
Konig.

On September i, 1851, Owen writes : ' Mr.
Dinkel has just called, and tells me that poor Mr.
Konig fell as he was ascending his own doorstep
and was found dead on Friday evening. He
was a kind and honest-hearted man.' The post
of Keeper of the Mineralogical Department of the
British Museum at that time included geology,
and the extract which follows from a letter sent

1850-51 POST AT BRIT. MUS. OFFERED

375

to Owen by Baron Pollock is of interest in
this connection : ' I spoke to Sir John Herschel,
whose reply you ought to know, as the index of
the opinion of the scientific world. He said :
' Owens claims sweep everybody else out of the field.'
Lord Enniskillen also writes on the same
subject : —

Florence Court : September 15, 185 1.

' My dear Owen, — What is this about Konig ?
fs he dead or pensioned off, or what .-' Phil [Sir P.
Egerton] mentions in a letter from the North that
he hoped you would be appointed to Konig's
vacancy. I have heard nothing of this : pray tell
me what has happened.

' I am just going into Enniskillen to sit all day
on the bench to judge the folk, so can say no
more. . . .

' Your sincere friend,

' Enniskillen.'

As, however, the salary was reduced, and the
position offered was not such as Professor Owen
could reasonably accept, he declined to compete
against Mr. G. R. Waterhouse, who succeeded
Mr. Konig.

The Royal Society awarded the Copley
Medal to Owen this year. Writing to his sister,
he makes the following remarks about it : ' I have
received the Copley Medal, which is the highest
honour in that way the Society has to bestow.

376 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. xi.

The Copley is an old medal, almost coeval with
the Society itself, and is voted annually. It does
not always fall to the lot of an Englishman.
Leverrier, e.g., had it for his new planet. I was
disqualified in a previous year, according to old
Dr. Copley's bequest, as I happened to be on the
Council. At last I have got it, and so now have
two additions to my collections of medals, the
second being the very beautiful bronze one struck
for the Jurors of the Great Exhibition '

The most important paper which Owen pub-
lished in 185 1 was that ' On the Skull of an Adult
Male Gorilla,' ^ and there appeared also Part IV.
of his ' History of British Fossil Reptiles,' 4to.

In this year also the King of Prussia created
him a Chevalier of the ' Ordre Royal pour le
M6rite.'

The following is the letter which he received
from Baron Humboldt announcing the fact ; —

A Monsieur

Monsieur Richard Owen, Esq. [sic]
London.
College of Surgeons,

Lincoln's Inn Fields.

' Monsieur et tres illustre Confrere, — Le Roi
vient de vousnommer Chevalier de son Ordre Royal
pour le M^rite dans les Sciences et les Arts. La
publication de votre nomination, Monsieur, ne peut

1 Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. iv.

1850-51 'ORDRE POUR LE Ml^RITE'

377

avoir lieu que le 24 Janvier, 1852, jour de nais-
sance de Frederic le Grand. Je suis heureux de
vous annoncer, comme chevalier de I'ordre, ce qui
a 6t6 depuis si longtemps I'objet de mes desirs. II
me tardait de pouvoir inscrire le nom du plus
grand anatomiste du siecle sur nos registres. Que
d'admirables travaux en zoologie, en anatomie
compar^e, en geologie de formations ont illustre
votre nom ! Vous savez que I'ordre ne compte
que trente membres Strangers sur toute 1' Europe ;
c'est plut6t une acad^mie qu'un ordre . . . Vous
succedez a M. Oerstedt. Daignez excuser la
grande hite de ces lignes, tracdes par la main d'un
homme antddiluvien, et agreez I'hommage de ma
haute et respectueuse consideration.
' Votre tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur,

'Le B*^' de Humboldt.

' A Berlin, ce 20 D^cembre, 185 1.'

In his reply to this letter Owen neatly turns
Humboldt's description of himself as ' antedilu-
vian ' into a compliment. Speaking of Humboldt's
work, he says : ' As it was thought that in regard
to fossil remains there were "giants in those days,"
I am now quite sure that there are in these.'

In a letter to his sister dated December 24,
1 85 1, Owen refers to this new decoration and
announces Her Majesty's gift to him of the royal
house at Kew. ' You have heard,' he writes,' of
my Copley Medal, which I look upon as one of

378 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. xi.

the brightest spots in this wonderful year. This
morning I received a letter from Baron Humboldt
informing me that the King of Prussia had made
me " Knight of the Order of Merit " in the place
of the famous Danish philosopher Oerstedt. . . .
Sister Catherine will look at all this lecturing, and
medal-getting, and foreign orders of knighthood
from the utilitarian point of view, and, I fear, will
not fully sympathise with my feelings irr giving^
knowledge and receiving honours ; but now comes
the " solid pudding." I quote the letter addressed
to me, with C. B. Phipps in the corner, and the
Queen's arms in black wax : —

"Osborne : December 13, 1851.

' " My dear Sir, — I have been commanded by
the Queen to inform you that, a house upon Kew
Green having become vacant by the death of the
late King of Hanover, Her Majesty is happy in
being able to offer this house as a residence for
you.

' " The Queen commands me to say that she
thinks that there is no method in which she can
better give a tribute of her respect and regard for
science than by thus meeting what she believes to
be the almost necessary convenience of one of its
chief ornaments and most distinguished members.

' " The house will require some alterations, and
a part which is unfit for repair will have to be pulled
down, but it will still form a commodious residence,

i8so-Si THE HOUSE AT KEW

379

and I should think, from its proximity to London,
would be most convenient for you.

' " Sincerely yours,

' " C. B. Phipps.

" Professor Owen."

' . . . . This decided me to push the British
Museum question no further ; for I must then
have lived in town, and had a deal of bothering
work, not worth 50/. a year more than I now
get.'

On the same day he writes to his sister
Maria : ' I little thought when I read of the
demise of the old King of Hanover that I should
become heir to one of His Majesty's houses at
Kew ; but so our own dear Majesty has graciously
willed. . . For our little family, and my quiet way
of life, not many rooms are wanted to add to the
happiness of breathing and sleeping in fresh air,
with access to one of the finest gardens of the
world — as good as my own — for life. The Council
are now debating upon my request to retain my
present sitting and sleeping rooms as a place
of business, and for sleeping now and then in
town. ..."

On December 23 there is the following entry
in the diary : ' To Sir Robert Inglis's. As soon
as we entered Sir R. attacked us about our "pala-
tial residence," but congratulated us very kindly.
The news is evidently spreading.'

In sending a copy of the ' Times ' to his sister

38o PROFESSOR OWEN ch. xi.

Catherine, Owen mentions that he attended a
Levee on February 25, 1852, and 'went through
the crush with the Duke of Northumberland.
He, talked a good deal about the Kew house,
and I think will prove a very kind neigh-
bour. ... In the evening we went to one of
Ella's concerts, and we brought home Prince
Albert's Librarian (Dr. Becker) to supper. He
told Caroline the Queen and Prince Albert had
more than once talked about the Kew house,
and hoped it would suit me.'

Professor Owen would often relate how upon
one occasion he went down to Kew to look at the
new residence, and when he got to the front door
and intended going in to make arrangements about
the furnishing, a Scotch ' body,' the caretaker,
came forward and told him he could not come
in, and that he must put off the furnishing ar-
rangements for a while. It appeared that some
little difficulty had arisen with the then King of
Hanover about the right of possession of the
premises, which right it was in time proved that
Her Majesty the Queen did possess. But in
the meantime Jesse the naturalist, who resided
in the neighbourhood, told Owen that the house
in Richmond Park (Sheen Lodge) was vacant.
After having seen it, Owen immediately went
off to Osborne, where the Royal Family were.
When he arrived there he found Prince Albert
planning out the grounds so as best to instruct

1850-51 THE HOUSE IN RICHMOND PARK 381

his children in botany, and he asked Owen's
advice as to the best method of so doing.

After giving his opinion, Owen broached the
subject of the house at Kew, saying how much
he would prefer the smaller house in Richipond
Park. The Prince said that he had seen the house,
but that it was merely a cottage, and that there
was no doubt whatever about the right of posses-
sion of the Kew house — it was only the matter of
waiting a short time. Owen represented to His
Royal Highness how much more suitable the
cottage would be for his small family, and Prince
Albert said that of course, if he really preferred
it, he had no doubt it could be arranged, as the
Queen's wish had merely been to do what might
prove most acceptable. The matter was brought
before Her Majesty, who was pleased to consent,
and Owen shortly afterwards received the follow-
ing letter from Sir C. B. Phipps : —

' I have very great pleasure in informing you
that Her Majesty has been pleased to grant to
you the house in Richmond Park, which you so
much wished for. A communication to this effect
has been made by the Prince to Lord John
Manners. Allow me heartily to congratulate you,
and to wish you every enjoyment in your new
abode.'

382 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. xn.

CHAPTER XII

1852-54

Delight in Country Life — Hunterian Lectures, 1852 — Landseer,
Mulready, Fanny Kemble, Alfred Tennyson, Charles Dickens
— Love of Fishing — Dinner in the Iguanodon, 1853 — Literary
and Scientific Work, 1854.

By the end of May 1852 Owen had settled
down in the house in Richmond Park, and the
delight with which he always contemplated his
surroundings there had already been felt by him.
Writing to his sister Kate on the 20th of that
month, he says : ' The van-loads of heavy goods
travelled safely (and in fine weather, which is a
great matter) to the cottage on Saturday, where
we all slept, and Will and I made our first ap-
pearance at Mortlake Church on Sunday. . . .
We felt like "jolly squatters " yesterday, but shall
be shaken into some shape by the end of a week.
Poor Carry compared herself to an overboiled
chicken when she woke after the fatigues of the
first day's move. I was awoke at three o'clock on
Sunday morning by a concert of a very unusual
kind to my ears, and, tempted by the unwonted

1852-54

SHEEN LODGE

383

Strains, I stole down into the garden. Day was
grayly dawning in the north-east, and some light
clouds floating across a pearly sky. The night-
ingales were sending forth interrupted capricious
carols from every bush ; with a higher treble for
some unknown warblers, and a lower one for

SHEEN LODGE, RICHMOND PARK
Back view, as seen from Professor Owen's garden

thrushes and blackbirds. The distant curlew kept
up a running tenor accompaniment, and the more
distant rookery gave out a steady bass ; with the
occasional addition of the wood-pigeon's plaintive
coo-oo. Then came the echo of the cheery crow
of a distant cock, the lowing of the steer, and the
drowsy hum of the humble-bee. The air was fra-

384 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. xii.

grant with newly opening azaleas and whitethorn,
and I was tempted to the brink of the little lake
by the strange gambols and gyrations of the great
black-backed carp. At half-past four I returned
again to bed and slept till half-past nine, in com-
fortable instinctive unconsciousness that the whole
was a reality and no early morning dream ! '

This delight at living in the country was a life-
long pleasure to Owen ; he is always referring to it
in his letters, and in his later days, when his strength
was declining and sleep was uncertain, he caused
his bed to be raised to an unusual height, that he
might, ' as he lay in bed, look out at the Park, and
at the deer and the birds. '

Before leaving his rooms at the College of
Surgeons, and entering the new house, Owen
gave his course of Hunterian Lectures, which
in this year (1852) was on the ' Anatomy of In-
vertebrates.' In 1843 his Hunterian Lectures
had been on the same subject, but this course was
not a mere repetition of the former ; nor was this
volume merely a reprint of the other, for, as he
states in the preface to the volume of his later
Lectures, ' the difference between them is in some
measure indicative of the progress of the anatomy
and physiology of the invertebrate animals during
the ten years which intervened between my first
and last course of lectures on that subject'

In this year his ' Physiological Catalogue
of the Hunterian Collections ' reached its second

1852-54 FANNY KEMBLE 385

edition ; and also Part V. of his ' History of
British Fossil Reptiles ' made its appearance.

Before leaving the College of Surgeons, Owen
had two visitors of interest, both of whom are
described in Mrs. Owen's diary : —

'March. — Late in the evening R. brought in
Mr. Mulready, the artist, and Charles Landseer.
R. and Landseer played chess till nearly two
o'clock, Mr. Mulready keeping up a long conver-
sation with Mr. Broderip (who dropped in) about
old theatrical ,days. Mulready is not at all the
sort of man in appearance one would have expected
from his handiwork, being an open, amiable, fresh-
looking man of about sixty, large head and face
and portly figure. I took him on entering for
Chevalier Bunsen, and told him so. The party
was so friendly and seemed so loath to separate
that I left them to themselves at 2 A.M.'

'April. — Fanny Kemble, the actress, came by
agreement to go round the museum with R. and
several friends of hers. I had no idea until
to-day that she was so badly pitted with small-pox.
She looks strong and energetic, and her short curl-
ing upper lip, curved nostril, with the straight dark
brows, give a great look of determination to her
face, which is not belied by her voice and manner.
Fanny, I could see, was very naturally under the
impression that she came more to be looked at
than to look ; but she soon saw that there were
creatures and things of higher interest than a

VOL. I. c c

386 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. xii.

clever woman even, and that prevented her from
feeling the only object in such a place. After a
tour round the museum we went into the dining-
room, and, a propos of some remark concerning
our fine Shakespeare's bust, which was looked at
with interest and its history given, R. brought
out the Becker-case containing Shakespeare's
cast, taken after death. The tears came into Miss
Kemble's eyes as she looked at it. There may
have been a touch of the actress in the emotion
which she displayed, but there was a great deal
of the true worshipper of Shakespeare in it too.
She was quite convinced that the auburn hairs
sticking to the plaster cast once adorned Shake-
speare's face.'

In April 1852 Owen wrote to the ' Times ' a
very strong letter against the demolition of the
Crystal Palace. He writes : ' I feel it my last duty
to the Crystal Palace to make this effort to pre-
serve it worthily.'

It is interesting to note that Owen felt some
disappointment with regard to the sale of his
numerous scientific works. He once expressed
that feeling in the presence of the poet Home,
who wrote him the following letter a day or two
afterwards : —

R. H. Home to R. Owen

College Road, Haverstock Hill : May 1852.

' My dear Sir, — I cannot tell you all I felt on
hearing you make the statement you did the other

1852-54 R. H. HORNE 387

night as to the public neglect of your works — you
who possess the highest European reputation.
Profoundly as I have long felt the sympathy that
must exist between Science and Poetry at the pre-
sent time and in all the future, I was not prepared
to hear one in your position display a similarity
of treatment to this which now drives me — to
Australia.

' I sail on the 30th inst. for Port Phillip.

' The highest private appreciation of my poetry
by the noblest intellects of the time would forbid
me to despond, even if I did not find self-sustain-
ing energies; but the fact of the public neglect
for twenty years drives me to Australia. . . .

' I shall be a miner or a shepherd, as the case
may be. I do not go to seek for great wealth,
but only an independence, so that I may indulge
in the luxury of printing what I can but write,
I shall occasionally make an exploring expedition.
If I can in any way serve you, pray command me.

' I am, my dear Sir, with kindest regards, and
farewell to yourself and Mrs. Owen,

' Yours always,

' R. H. HORNE.'

After the publication of his ' Archetype of
the Skeleton,' Owen had a seal engraved with the
idea symbolised, and he gives the following account
of it to his sister Maria : ' I enclose with pleasure
a wax impression of my adopted cognizance. . .

c c 2

388 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. Xll

It represents the archetype, or primal pattern —
what Plato would have called the " Divine idea " on
which the osseous frame of all vertebrate animals
— i.e. all animals that have bones — has been con-
structed. The motto is " The One in the Manifold,"
expressive of the unity of plan which may be traced
through all the modifications of the pattern, by
which it is adapted to the varied habits and modes
of life of fishes, reptiles, birds, beasts, and human
kind. Many have been the attempts to discover
the vertebrate archetype, and it seems now gene-
rally felt that it has been found. . . .

'You will be glad to hear that H.R.H.
[Duchess of Gloucester ^] has graciously allotted
me a cow's grass in the Park, which will reduce
the expense of our luxurious zoological addition^
to zero nearly ; and already the economy of the
cow has begun to show itself, for we have been
eating our own butter for a fortnight, and my bread
and milk is a new dainty to what it was, and we
all enjoy our glass of milk at night instead of tea.'

One of the early visitors to Owen in his new
abode was Alfred Tennyson. His visit is thus
related in the diary : —

'August 6. — To-day we had a visit from Alfred
Tennyson. His wife sat in the carriage, being in
a delicate state of health. Miss Tennyson came
in with her brother, who struck me as being a

1 Then Ranger of the » The cow was a present

Park. from Sir Richard Vyvyan.

1852-54 'HOME, SWEET HOME' 389

cara-marked, dark-eyed, rather bilious-looking
young man, with spectacles ; middle height, and
rather thin.'

This year Owen attended, as he usually did,
the meeting of the British Association, which was
held in Belfast. Previous to the meeting, in the
middle of August, he was the guest of Lord
Enniskillen. He returned home, as he writes to
his sister, 'byway of Holyhead, and landed at
Euston Station at 5 a.m. Went by the first train to
Mortlake and then " Home, sweet Home," where
I arrived this morning (Friday, September 17), to
breakfast. I found on looking at my thermometer
on my arrival that it had fallen here last night to
freezing point. , Nevertheless, all looks beautifully
well in the garden. The Gleditschia has begun to
add a slight yellow to its charms. The Althaeas
are in magnificent -bloom — five of them. One of
a rich rosy hue has the buds particularly beauti-
ful. The flower-beds on the lawn are as brilliant
as ever. Honeysuckles and verbenas in full blow.'

In the autumn of this year Owen began a
series of zoological articles for Charles Dickens's
magazine ' Household Words.' Forster made
the suggestion in the first instance, and Dickens
wrote Owen the following letter on the subject : —

Oct. 19, 1852.
' My dear Owen, — I am just home again for
the winter, and saw Forster last night. He per-

390 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. xii.

fectly overwhelmed me with delight by telling me
you had intimated to him that you might some-
times find leisure to write some familiar papers
on Natural History, yourself, for this journal
[" Household Words "].

' It would be in vain for me to attempt to tell
you with what pride and pleasure I should receive
such assistance, or what high store I should set
by it. If you will give me such gratification and
render the work such a service, you can't (I must
honestly say) enhance the regard and respect in
which I hold you already, but you can and will
afford me inexpressible satisfaction.
' Believe me ever,

' Very faithfully yours,

' Charles Dickens.'

On the 28th of this month Dickens came with
his wife and sister-in-law to Sheen Lodge. An
account of this visit is given in the diary : —

' October 28. — Mr. Forster travelled down
frcm town with R., and at about half-past five
Charles Dickens with his wife and her sister (Miss
Hogarth) came. Dickens was very cheerful in
spite of a bad cold, and I believe enjoyed himself
exceedingly. He was much struck with the pic-
turesque appearance of the cottage, and admired
some of our old furniture. After dinner we had
some music. Played Corelli with R. C. D. said
the Corelli carried him back to his youthful days,

1852-54 SNAKE-BITE

39 «

when he often used to hear that kind of music.
Dickens is a handsome man, but much more —
there is real goodness and genius in every mark
in his face, and the Hnes in it are very strongly
marked. We all took a stroll round the garden
by moonlight, before the party left.'

On October 30, 1852, Owen writes to his
sister Catherine : ' I enclose an autograph of
Charles Dickens. Keep the cover for your scrap-
book, but return me the note. It relates to a little
paper I wrote for his " Household Words," on
Poison Snakes, a propos of an accident at the
Zoological Gardens. A keeper in the snake-room
had been drinking farewell to a friend who was
going to Australia, and early in the morning
entered the snake-room with a few companions.
Being a trifle the worse for his potations, he began
to act as a snake-charmer, by way of sport —
swinging poisonous snakes over his head and so
forth. A cobra, highly incensed at this treatment,
bit him on the nose. The man was taken imme-
diately to the London Hospital, but died within the
hour.

' Dickens brought his wife and wife's sister here
last Thursday, and we had Mr. Forster (editor of
" Examiner " ) and Mr. Kenyon (a poet), both old
friends of his, to meet him. Dickens was very
happy and in great force. . . . The diversity of
trees and shrubs in our grounds, all decaying after
their own fashion, produces a rich contrast and

392 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. xii.

harmony of autumnal tints, and I think the garden
never was more lovely. . . . We were able to
offer our guests a dish of Cornish cream of home
manufacture with their apple tart, and Dickens
enjoyed it like a schoolboy. . . . We discussed
some " Household Words" articles which I am to
try and find time to write for him.'

Charles Dickens soon afterwards wrote the
following letter to Owen reminding him of this
discussion : —

Tavistock House : Saturday, November 20, 1852.

' My dear Owen, — What do you think as a
general subject for a series of papers of some
articles describing the peculiarities and points of
interest of many of the animals in the Zoological
Gardens under some such title as " Private Lives
of Public Friends ? " / think they would be very
good in such hands as yours.

' Faithfully yours ever,

' Charles Dickens.'

In November 1852 Owen attended the
funeral of the Duke of Wellington, along with
Dean Conybeare, Dr. Bliss, Dr. Ogle, and other
Oxford friends, of which ceremony he sends an
account to his sister Catherine on the 20th. In
this letter he says .he walked along the Strand
' very leisurely, looking at the sloping pile of
human faces, from the barriers on each side to the

1852-54 DEATH MASK OF WELLINGTON 393

house-tops — a very singular part of the scene."
The day after he was dining with Hay Cameron,
a fellow-commissi9ner with Macaulay in the East
Indies, and a great-grandson of the head of the
clan that marched with Prince Charlie to Derby
in '45. ' By the way,' he sajs, ' he showed me
an original miniature of the " Prince " which the
latter gave to his ancestor at their first leave-
taking. The poet Henry Taylor (Van Artevelde)
and Lord Wrottesley were of the party.'

In reference to the death of the Duke of
Wellington, Professor Owen wrote on November
13, 1852, to Mr. Thomas Poyser, of Wirks-
worth : —

' I have been particularly favoured in respect
of the remarkable solemnities in honour of the
memory of the great Duke. The present amiable
inheritor of the title called on me last Wednesday
to request that I would call on him to see the cast
that had been taken after the Duke's demise, and
give some advice to a sculptor who is restoring
the features in a bust, intending to show the noble
■countenance as in the last years of the Duke's life.
It is a most extraordinary cast. It appears that
the Duke had lost all his teeth, and the natural
prominence of the chin and nose much exaggerates
the intermediate space caused by the absorption of
the alveoli.^ He of course wore a complete set

' There follows a little sketch of the cast.

394 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. XII.

of artificial teeth when he spoke or ate. My last
impression of the living features is a very pleasing-
one. I brought it away vividly in my mind from
Lord Ellesmere's great ball last July.'

In this year Owen had the offer of the
Presidency of the Geological Society, which he-
declined. Edward Forbes, who accepted the post,
wrote him the following letter on the subject, dated
Sandown, Isle of Wight, December i6, 1852 :
' I thank you heartily for your kind and frank
letter. As you know all the particulars respecting
the Presidency of the Geological Society matter,
I need not repeat them here. I was very much
astonished when the President mentioned my
name as that of his possible successor. There are
many members who have not filled the chair and
who have claims before mine, but pre-eminently
before them all is yourself This is the opinion
of every member of the society, so far as I am
aware, and certainly is that of Mr. Hopkins. I
regret that you will not take the post, and doubly
regret the only valid reason for your declining — -
viz. the personal annoyance that it might cause
you through the body with which you are officially
connected. I feel ashamed of our country when
I think of it. . . .'

Amongst Owen's favourite amusements was.
that of fishing. He was always a keen fisherman,,
and was constantly to be seen exercising the
' gende art ' from the banks of the lakes or ponds

i8s2-S4 A BIG FISH 395

in Richmond Park. The following story is related
of him by Mr. George F. Wilson : —

' Walking with him in Richmond Park, we
passed a pond where some men were fishing.
One had put down his rod and was on his way to
the other side of the pond to put down another.
The Professor, as he then was, said to the man :
" There are heavy fish here ; you may lose your
rod." As we walked on, he said : " I spoke
feelingly. Soon after coming to Sheen Lodge, I
got up very early one morning to fish, and did
exactly what I warned that man against doing
with the result that one of my rods was dragged
into the pond. I took off some clothes, and went
in after it as far as the water and mud would
allow ; but the mud was deep, and it would not
have done for the Professor to make a specimen
of himself in the mud of his pond. After a time
an early sweep came by. He was sent for his
long-handled broom. After that the gardener
and some others came to help ; then a park-keeper
rode up and began : ' You rascals, poaching ; ' but,
on seeing me, held up his hands and exclaimed,
' The Professor ! ' burst out laughing at the muddy
group, and galloped off. At last, I could just
reach the big fish, when it made a plunge and
broke." '

To his sister Eliza, December 22, 1852, Owen
writes thus': —

' " Please, Sir ! Mrs. Liddell's compliments, and

396 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. xii.

she is very much obliged to you ; " and so waked
up by Albert the page from my after-dinner nap.
The thanks from our neighbours being for three
out of half a score jack, caught in the great pond
this morning by Mr. Gould and me. . . . We
had two capital chess battles last night — each
winning one [Hon. Adolphus Liddell] * — and his
beautiful wife playing the most charming airs from
good old " Don Giovanni." The breach being quite
practicable between the two gardens, three minutes'
walk in the bright moonlight clears the distance.'

Owen's enthusiasm for the ' Cottage ' and its
beautiful surroundings knew no bounds. In a
letter to his sister Catherine (January 3, 1853), he
refers to a ' grand battue ' which took place in the
park on that day, and says : ' His Royal Highness
[the Duke of Cambridge] ordered a couple of
hares to be left for us at the close of the day, so
what with these and the good Duchess's venison
and the carp, I begin to find the advantage of
living in a "preserve." I don't know that I ever
enjoyed the snug place more than now ; but the
season has been so extraordinary that it is like a
prolonged mild spring, and we have occasionally
splendid sunsets. The walks are very enjoyable,
wet or fine, the exercise being always good.'

On March i, 1853, he sends an account of the
first ' Club ' dinner that season : ' Hallam was in

* The garden of whose house of Sheen Lodge by a breach in'
could be entered from the garden the hedge.

1852-54 A LONG GRACE 397

the chair. Duke of Argyll, Bishop of London,
Dean Milman, Baron Van de Weyer, Pemberton
Legh, Dundas (who used to go Northern
Circuit), Dr. Holland. Hallam said that Hall's
famous sermon on Princess Charlotte was copied
from, or founded on, one of Burnet's on a daughter
of Louis XIV. The Duke of Argyll, cL propos of
monomaniacs, related an anecdote of a Highland
gentleman he visited, who insisted on walking
backwards as he showed him to his sleeping-room ;
also an anecdote of a worthy Scotch judge, who
travelling by rail at the time of the Great
Assembly, and finding himself at the place where
the train stopped for dinner with a number of
Scotch " meenisters," was asked by them to say
grace, he being taken for the oldest and most
reverend ; and thereupon he rose and, beginning
a grace in Gaelic, continued it till the bell rang for
the continuation of the journey.'

The Hunterian Lectures given this season by
Owen were on the ' Anatomy of Fishes.' He
notes in his diary that during this course of
lectures Hallam was again a constant attendant.

A considerable part of this year was spent by
Owen in ' directing and selecting the restorations
of the megatherium and other extinct animals in
the geological section of the grounds of the Crystal
Palace at Sydenham.'

In the address of the Chairman of the Crystal
Palace Company to the Queen the following

398 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. xii.

remarks are made : ' The restoration from a
single fossil fragment of complete skeletons of
creatures long since extinct, first effected by the
genius of Cuvier, has always been considered one
of the most striking achievements of modern
science. Our British Cuvier, Professor Owen, has
lent us his assistance in carrying these scientific
triumphs a step further and in bringing them
down to popular apprehension. Aided by the
indefatigable exertions of the modeller, who with
his own hands moulded their forms, the gigantic
iguanodon, the ichthyosaurus, and other monsters
of the diluvian world will now present themselves
to the eye as they once disported themselves and
pursued their prey amongst the forests and
marshes of the secondary and tertiary periods.'
How far the labours of Professor Owen and other
learned men in setting forth these extinct crea-
tures in the Crystal Palace grounds have succeeded
in educating the mind of British public, may per-
haps be considered as doubtful*

^ The writer lately made a even names of the creatures,

pilgrimage to the Crystal Palace, From the remarks of the British

and succeeded in effecting a holiday-makers he gathered that

surreptitious landing upon the the popular mind was divided

island where the forms of these as to whether these images were

extinct monsters are displayed. inferior imitations, on a large

Here he found the specimens in scale, of certain animals at the

question slightly dilapidated as Zoological Gardens — wherein

to tails and other extremities, the popular mind had a vague

together with a total absence of sense of being defrauded — or

anything hke explanation, or whether they were not creations

i8s2-S4 DINNER IN THE IGUANODON 399

Those who were engaged in setting forth the
forms of these extinct creatures celebrated the
completion of their labours by dining together in
the inside of one of the largest of them — the
iguanodon.

A morning paper of the time says in an
article headed ' Dinner to Prof&sor Owen in the
Iguanodon : ' ' Often as we have recorded the pro-
ceedings of meetings and banquets convened for
the purpose of giving expression of the feelings of
respect and esteem for eminent and scientific men,
we have never yet been called upon to record a
dinner given under such circumstances as that
last Saturday to Professor Owen in the model of
the iguanodon. . . . There was something so
grotesque and monstrous in the illustrations which
accompanied the card : "Mr. B. Waterhouse

Hawkins requests the honour of 's company

at dinner in the Iguanodon at 4 p.m.," which
excited the curiosity and interest of some of the
leading scientific men of the country, and which
induced them to be present at so novel a banquet.
The number of gentlemen present was twenty-
eight, of whom twenty-one were accommodated
in the interior of the creature, and seven at a
side table on a platform raised to the same level'

"of some eccentric person's ima- eyes of the public, as a terrible

gination. One individual was warning, the fantastic visions

of opinion that they were surely sometimes seen by such as are

placed there with the pious pur- in the habit of indulging too

pose of setting clearly before the freely in spirituous liquors.

400 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. xii

At the ,end of April Owen received the
following letter from Lord Derby, who had just
been appointed Chancellor of the University of
Oxford, inviting him to attend the ceremony of
his installation : —

Lord Derby to R. Owen

St. James's Square : April 28, 1853.

' Dear Sir,-— I hardly know whether I am suffi-
ciently justified by the extent of our acquaintance
in writing to you to say how much it would gratify
me if you were disposed to pay me the compliment
of attending the ceremony of my installation as
Chancellor of the University of Oxford on Tues-
day, the 7th of June ; and if you would further
allow me, in that case, to insert your name in a
small list of men distinguished in various capa-
cities, whom, in accordance with the usual custom,
I am called on to recommend to Convocation for
the honorary degree of D.C.L. Allow me to
say that I should look upon your acquiescence
not only as a personal compliment, but that I feel
the University will do itself honour in conferring
such a mark of its respect on one whose scientific
claims are so universally known and acknow-
ledged.

' I have the honour to be, dear Sir,

' Yours faithfully, •

' Derby.'

1852-54 SUNDAY TICKETS NOT FOR SIR X. 401

Owen, in acknowledging this letter, informed
Lord Derby that he had already received the
degree of D.C.L. from Oxford University on
June 23, 1852, but that he would gladly attend the
ceremony of his installation as Chancellor in June.

A letter which Owen addressed about this
time to a wealthy correspondent, whose name
need not be given, may be found of interest, as it
shows that he had very strong feelings as to the
proper use of the tickets of admission given to the
Fellows of the Zoological Society : —

' Dear Sir X., — A Fellow of the Zoological
Society is Hmited to the introduction of two
persons on each Sunday. . . . Your request
would, if fulfilled, deprive me of the power of
granting admission — say, for the three or four
following Sundays. Hitherto I have restricted my
Sunday tickets for the behoof of our College
•students and other young medicals having a
taste for zoology, and who cannot be expected to
subscribe for an ivory ticket. I have also not
infrequently letters from journeymen and others
of the weekly- wage class, representing their
inability to profit by the collection of the Zoo-
logical Society on any day but Sunday, and I
•could show you specimens of these applications
that would do honour to any class, save the rela-
tion of means to the request. You will see,
therefore, that were I to send you a few cards I
should deprive myself of the power of supplying

VOL. I. D D

402 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. xii.

some that more need them, or of accompanying a
foreign anatomical friend, on the only day I have
at liberty, who might come to London.

' In general, when a town resident's income
equals or exceeds my own, I urge him to join with
me in helping on the good work of the Zoolo-
gical Society.'

The following extracts are taken from Mrs.
Owen's journal kept in 1853 : —

'July II. — Went with R. to see the Aztecs
at Hanover Square Rooms. Two most extra-
ordinary dwarf children from Peru, whose minds
seem to go no further than those of ordinary
children of two or three years old. These were
given out to be about fifteen. I soon attracted
the attention of the boy by drawing objects he was
likely to know on a piece of paper. He recog-
nised a duck at once, pointing and nodding his
head. A cat was not so familiar. They are very
strange beings, and their proprietor seems to be
making money.'^

' August 4. — R. and I to Windsor to see the
troops reviewed by the Queen in person. Her
Majesty rode a black horse and had on a dark
blue habit with gold trimming across the breast,
like a general officer, and a pretty little hat with a
white and red plume. She returned salutes in

« Not long after this visit the Aztec Race, followed by a De-
Owen contributed to the Ethnol. scription of the so-called Aztec
Soc. Journal ' A Brief Notice of Children exhibited in 1853.'

I8S2-S4 LECTURED AT 'INSTITUT' 403

the military fashion. Prince Albert rode on her
left side and the Duke of Cambridge on her right.
We watched the sham fight and afterwards went
to the tent of one of the officers who was a friend
of R.'s and had lunch in the mess tent of his
regiment. We saw everything— hospital, stables,
kitchen, &c. Home at half-past eight.'

Owen spent the September of this year in
Paris with his wife, but nothing in this visit calls
for remark. Soon after his return to London, in
October, he writes to his friend White Cooper : —

'Made my first appearance, after our return
from France, here at the old scene of my scientific
labours this morning. ... I shall be here now
daily as usual, and might perhaps make a day
when we might dine at the Athenaeum together
and tell our adventures since we last met. I took
my seat at the Institute and lectured in French
to them on different matters for about an hour.
You will see the report in the " Comptes Rendus"
I think for September 5 or thereabouts. . . .
I expect soon to settle down into the old quiet
jog-trot working state.'

'October 15. — R. busy dissecting the walrus
which lately died at the Gardens. The man who
had it to sell did a foolish thing in asking an
unreasonable price for it in the first instance —
750/. The Society allowed the walrus to have a
place in the Gardens at the man's own responsi-
bility, but would not listen to such a sum. The

404 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. xii.

animal died, and the man only gets the price of a
skeleton and skin.' ^

Owen wrote but few papers this year, his most
important contribution being a description of the
' Fossil Chelonia of the Wealden,' 4to.

In 1854 a small series of fossils from the
Purbeck Beds at Swanage were sent to Professor
Owen by Messrs. Wilcox and W. R. Brodie.
The majority of the specimens were remains of
small saurians, and consisted mainly of lower jaws ;,
but the appearance of some teeth in certain of the
small jaws suggested evidence of a mammalian
rather than a reptilian origin and excited consider-
able interest. A paper, on the subject was con-
tributed by the Professor to the Geological Society
in the same year, and a detailed exploration of the
place of deposit was undertaken by Samuel H.
Beckles at much cost and considerable personal
risk. The result of Mr. Beckles's efforts was
made known to the world in collected form by
Professor Owen in 1871.

In 1854 appeared Parts V. and VI. of his
work ' On Dinornis ' (' Zool. Trans.'), also Part
VI. of his ' History of British Fossil Reptiles.'
Amongst other writings this year his contribution
of the article 'Mollusca' to the 'Encyclopaedia
Britannica' may be mentioned.^ Besides the usual

^ A paper descriptive of this ^ In this he received the as-

walruswas read at the Zoological sistance of Dr. S. P.Woodward.
Society on November 8. It was published in 1858.

i8s2-54 DOGS AS DRAUGHT ANIMALS 405

course of Hunterian Lectures, which were still on
the Anatomy of. Fishes, Owen gave a lecture on
February 10, at the Royal Institution, ' On the
Structure and Homologies of Teeth.'

Amongst the correspondence for this year
there is a letter from the Dujce of Argyll asking
Professor,. Owen whether he considers that dogs
are physically unfitted for use as draught animals.
The Duke mentions the case of the Esquimaux dog,
and says that there will probably be a discussion
and division in the House of Lords in a few days
on the subject. Professor Owen replied that the
general framework and muscular structure of dogs
adapted them for draught purposes, and that the
larger kinds do the work with goodwill and with-
out distress. But the physical unfitness for habitual
draught is seen in examining the foot and by
noting the evident soreness of foot in a dog which
has run for long on a hard road. He also remarks
that the case of the Esquimaux breed does not
apply, because they almost invariably run over
snow-covered surfaces, and not on hot and hard
roads such as exist in this country.

In the summer of 1854 Owen devoted some
time to the water supply and sewage arrangements
of Lancaster. Whilst in the North of England
he attended the Liverpool Meeting of the British
Association, giving an address on ' Anthropo-
morphous Apes ' at the ' New Hall ' there to an
audience of between two and three thousand. His

4o6 PROFESSOR OWEN CH. xii.

entrance into his native town (Lancaster) was
welcomed by a peal of bells. After the comple-
tion of the sanitary arrangements there, Owen
wrote a letter to the Editor of the ' Lancaster
Guardian,' from which the following passages may
be quoted. He says : ' As a member of the Com-
mission for the Health of Towns .... I believe
myself able to give the town a trustworthy testimony
of the character and the value of the works that
have been completed and are in progress.' After
this he proceeds to contrast the work done with
that done in other Lancashire towns, and pays a
high tribute to the engineers and contractors em-
ployed. His remarks on the policy of permit-
ting the water supply of large towns to fall into
the hands of private companies may have an in-
terest for the present day. ' A company,' he says,
' associated for profit to be made by doling out a
measured and intermittent supply of a necessary
of vital importance to a town, may be content to
have works good enough for their day, or perhaps
the next generation ; carried out, moreover, on
principles relating more to the profit of share-
holders than the welfare of the parties supplied.
We, in London, have more than enough of sore
experience of the results of this way of supply-
ing water ; according to which experience, water
companies are useful as warnings of what to avoid
in the plan of construction and mode of supply
of water to a town My anxiety now is,

1852-54 DARWIN'S CIRRIPEDIA 407

that the town should reap the full benefits of
the water supply. For that purpose the supply-
must be directed, by combined sewage works,
irrespective of private and public streets, so as
to carry off the sewerage from every, even the
humblest dwelling.' -Owen concludes with a
promise of some further remarks on the ' eco-
nomical and profitable results of the water and
sewage works viewed merely as an investment.'

In July, Charles Darwin wrote a letter to Owen
on the subject of the Cirripedia.^ Their place in
the system had occasioned considerable doubt and
difference of opinion amongst zoologists, but
Darwin's researches went far to settle the vexed
question of their zoological position, and so the
following letter may be found of interest : —

Down, Farnborough, Kent : July 17 [1854].
' Dear Owen, — . ... I cannot tell you how
much gratified I am at what you say about the Cirri-
pedia. I really feel rewarded for more labour than
you would readily believe it possible could have been
bestowed on the work. I have, however, made a
mess of it, for I got so frightened at the thoughts of
all the seaside species, that I have not illustrated and
given in nearly detail enough my anatomical work,

" A well-defined natural are scarcely any seas without

group of marine invertebrate some of the species, as they

animals, commonly known as frequently fix themselves on to

'barnacles.' They are very floating bodies,
widely diffused — in fact, there

4o8 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. xii.

which is the only part of the work which has really-
interested me. I find the mere systematic part
infinitely tedious. I can, however, honestly state
that all I have said on the males of Ibla and
Scalpellum is the result of the most careful and
repeated observation. If I am.ever proved wrong
in it, I shall be surprised. But my pen is running
away with me ; it is your fault, for I have been
so much pleased with what you say. Making out
the homologies of the shell and external parts of
Cirripedes, as I fully believe correctly (and I am
glad to say that Dana admits the view), gave me
great satisfaction. But I must not bore you with
my triumph. I have been very seldom in London
for the last year. When I was last there I called at
the College to see you, but you were just gone out.
Pray believe me, in a great state of triumph, pride,
vanity and conceit, &c., &c., &c.,

' Yours sincerely,

' Charles Darwin.'

In December 1854 Owen was offered and de-
clined the chair of Anatomy in the University of
Edinburgh, which was rendered vacant by the
death of Edward Forbes. Writing to his sister
(December 20), he says : ' Poor Edward Forbes !
There was never a scientific man whose unexpected
death caused a more general or sincere regret. . ,
I declined the offer to succeed him, as I was by
no means sure that after fulfilling the duties of

1852-54 RAE AND FRANKLIN 409

a winter course of five lectures a week for six
months my strength, any more than my poor friend
Forbes's, would carry me through a continuous
course during the succeeding summer months.'

In a letter written a few days afterwards he
says : ' I met a very interesting«party a few days
ago at breakfast at Sir Robert Inglis's — the new
President of the Royal Society, Lord Wrottesley,
Sir J. Herschel, Mr. Robert Brown, Captain
Fitzroy, Mr. Charles Darwin (who went round
the world with Captain F.), Dean Morier, Professor
Acland of Oxford, and Dr. Rae (who discovered
the remains of poor Sir John Franklin). We had of
course all the particulars of that long and earnestly
looked for discovery. . . . Dr. Rae pointed out
on a new map of the Arctic Regions exactly the
spot where Franklin's party lay ; and he assured
us that the party to be sent out by the Hudson's
Bay Company would arrive there next July or
August.'

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME

VOL. I. E E

CONSERVATION